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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 


























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A MANUAL 


« 

OF TH K 

' f V/a -‘r‘ 

Mining* Laws 


' —OF— 

THE UNITED STATES, 


COLORADO, NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA. 


CONTAINING 

/ 

STATUTES COMPLETE, WITH THE LATEST AMENDMENTS. 
DECISIONS OF THE COURTS AND LAND OFFICE, 
NOTES, FORMS, DIAGRAMS SUGGESTIONS, Etc. 


Prepared with Special Reference to the Use of Miners and Prospectors. 


Second Edition with Supplement 


— BY — 





Charles S. Wilson,''--. ^ ^ 0 


WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF 


S. W. Carpenter. 


Both of the Denver, Colo., Bar. 


DENVER, COLO.: 

W. H. Lawrence & Co., Publishers. 








June, 1884. 


















Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1884, 

By CHARLES S. WILSON, 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 















CONTENTS. 


X. 

United States Statutes— 
Lodes and Placers, - 
Coal Lands, 

Timber on Mineral Lands, 


PAGES. 


9 to 41 
41 to 44 
44 to 47 


ZEP-A-IRT XX. 


Colorado Statutes— 


Lodes, - 

- 49 

to 

59 

Placers, - 

59 

to 

63 

Water Rights, Easements, - 

- 63 

to 

64 

Miscellaneous Laws, 

64 

to 

70 

Miners’ Lien, - . 

- 70 

to 

7i 

Penal Laws, - 

7i 

to 

73 

Stock Companies, 

- 73 

to 

78 

X^^XX^X 1 XXX. 

Conveyances, - 

79 

to 

84 

Laws of Arizona, - 

- 84 

to 

9 2 

Laws of New Mexico, - 

93 

to 

95 

District Laws, 

- 95 

to 

97 

How to Prospect, 

- 98 

to 

101 

Courts of Colorado, 

- 103 

to 

108 





CONTRACTIONS. 


U. S. Stat. —Revised Statutes of the United States, 
1878. 

Col. Stat. —General Laws of Colorado, 1877. 

C. L. O.—Copp’s Land Owner. 

C. M. D.—Copp’s Mining Decisions. 

t» 

Law Reporter. —Colorado Law Reporter, by 
James A. Dawson. 

Sick els. —Sickel’s Mining Laws of the United 
States. 


The dates indicate when the statute took effect. 



PART I. 


THE MINING LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

FROM THE REVISED STATUTES, 1878. 


The Statutes are printed in the larger type — author's notes 
in small type. 

Mineral Lands Reserved from Sale. 

Section 2318. In all cases, lands valuable for 
minerals shall be reserved from sale, except as 
otherwise expressly directed by law .—July p, 1866. 

Mineral Lands are such as are more valuable for mining than 
for agricultural purposes. There are two classes of mineral lands, 
viz : Lodes and Placers. 

A Lode is a vein or body of ore in place. 

See Rock in Place. 

Placers include all other forms of mineral deposits. 

Sec. 2329. 

Mineral Lands open to Exploration and Pur¬ 
chase. 

Sec. 2319. All valuable mineral deposits in 
lands belonging to the United States, both sur¬ 
veyed and unsurveyed, are hereby declared to be 
free and open to exploration and purchase, and the 
lands in which they are found to occupation and 


2 




10 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


purchase, by citizens of the United States and 
those who have declared their intention to become 
such, under regulations prescribed by law, and 
according to the local customs or rules of miners 
in the several mining-districts, so far as the same 
are applicable and not inconsistent with the laws 
of the United States .—May 10, 1872. 

The First Act of Congress relating to mining locations, was 
passed in i860. The first placer law was enacted in 1870. 

The Possessory Rig’llts of claimants were first recognized by 
Act of Congress in 1865, as follows : 

Sec. 910. No possessory action between per¬ 
sons, in any court of the United States, for the 
recovery of any mining title, or for damages to any 
such title, shall be effected by the fact that the 
paramount title to the land iiywhich such mines lie 
is in the United States; but each case shall be 
adjudged by the law of possession.— Feb. 27, 1865. 

See Miscellaneous Laws, Sec. 2131. 

Mineral Deposits. —Under the head of valuable mineral 
deposits in this section (2319) are included diamonds, slate, fire¬ 
clay, borax, mica, amber, petroleum, and the common and 
precious metals. Land Office Decisions, Siclcels, p. 4S5. 

Agricultural Entry. —Land discovered to contain valuable 
mineral deposits, after the same has been entered as agricultural, 
but before patent has issued, is subject to mineral location and 
entry, and the agricultural entry will be cancelled. Siclcels, 449. 

Reservation Lands. —Mineral Lands in Indian or Military 
Reservations are not subject to location. Should such reserva¬ 
tions be removed or revert to the government, claims previously 
located should be re-located. Siclcels, pp. 519-20, 

District Laws. —Prior to 1866 mining rights were regulated 
by state or territorial laws and the local rules and customs of the 


LODES. 


I I 

miners. District laws were published on the county records, and 
when not in conflict with any state or territorial statute were rec¬ 
ognized and enforced by the courts; see Laws Col., Sec. 2127, 
(Miscellaneous.) But in Colorado they are now practically obso¬ 
lete, except with respect to old locations and for the purpose of 
locating and describing claims, the state and federal laws being 
so comprehensive as to leave little room for them. 

A form of district rules and organization of mining districts is 
given under Laws of New Mexico. 

In Colorado all local rules seem to be abolished by the Act of 
186S ; see Col. Stat., Sec. 2127. (Miscellaneous.) 

Milling' Districts vary in extent of area, and their boundaries 
have no uniformity. In describing unsurveyed lands they take 
the place of townships, sections, etc. 

Location of Claims—Length and Width of 
Lode Claims—Parallel End Lines. 

Sec. 2320. Mining-claims upon veins or .lodes 
of quartz or other rock in place bearing gold, 
silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper, or other valuable 
deposits, heretofore located, shall be governed as to 
length along the vein or lode by the customs, 
regulations, and laws in force at the date of their 
location. A mining-claim located after the tenth 
day of May, 1872, whether located by one or more 
persons, may equal, but shall not exceed, one thou¬ 
sand five hundred feet in length along the vein or 
lode; but no location of a mining-claim shall be 
made until the discovery of the vein or lode 
within the limits of the claim located. No claim 
shall extend more than three hundred feet on each 
side of the middle of the vein at the surface, nor 
shall any claim be limited by any mining regula- 


12 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


tion to less than twenty-five feet on each side of 
the middle of the vein at the surface, except where 
adverse rights existing on the tenth day of May, 
1872, render such limitation necessary. The end¬ 
lines of each claim shall be parallel to each other. 
—May io } 18 72. 

Col. Stat., Sec. 1811 et al. 

A Mining* Claim is defined by the United States Supreme 
Court as “the possessory right to explore and work the mine 
under the existing laws and regulations on the subject.” 

4 C. L. O., p. 58. 

A Toill or Lode is a body of mineral or mineral bearing rock 
within defined boundaries in the general mass of the mountain. 

Iron Silver Mining Co. vs. Cheeseman et al. Law 
Reporter, vol. I. p. 461. 

The terms Vein, Lode or Ledg*e, are used synonymously, or 
nearly so, in law. 

Law of Possession—Discovery. —It is provided in the fore¬ 
going section that “ no location of a mining claim shall be made 
until the discovery of the vein or lode within the limits of the 
claim located.” But it is a common custom to stake out and 
locate claims before such discovery, and, according to a recent 
decision of the United States Circuit Court, such a location gives 
to the claimant a possessory title to the full extent of the claim, 
and may be held by him for an indefinite period, while he remains 
in occupation of it, searching for mineral. But to preserve his 
right to the claim he must not suffer another to stake a claim or 
prospect within his boundaries prior to a discovery by him. 

The decision in full (by Judge Miller) is as follows: 

‘ ‘ This cause is submitted on an agreed state of facts to the 
effect that the ground in controversy is covered by the surface 
lines of the Orion claim, located by plaintiff, and also of the Pen- 
dery claim located by defendant; that both locations are regular 
as to form ; that the Orion was first located, surveyed and staked ; 
that the locators have steadily prosecuted work in the devel- 


LODES. 


13 


opment thereof, and have discovered mineral in place. That 
the discoverers of the Pendery, located subsequently to the 
Orion and while the locators of the latter were in possession 
thereof, also prosecuted work and discovered mineral in place, 
before the discovery by the locators of the Orion. The question 
submitted to the Court is this: Can prospectors on the public 
mineral domain acquire any right in which the law will protect 
them prior to the discovery of mineral in rock in place ? And if 
so, can plaintiffs, being prior locators, recover against defendants, 
who first discovered mineral on the ground in controversy? 

It is the opinion of the Court that inasmuch as the plaintiffs 
allowed the defendants to enter upon their claim, and within their 
boundaries, and there sink a shaft, in which they discovered min¬ 
eral in rock in place before a discovery by plaintiffs, and make 
location thereof without protest, the defendants now have the 
better right. But the plaintiffs might have protected their actual 
possession of their entire claim, by proper legal proceedings prior 
to the discovery of mineral by the defendants, or by either party. 

A prospector on the public mineral domain may protect him* 
self in the possession of his pedis possessions while he is search¬ 
ing for mineral. His possession so held is good as a possessory 
title against all the world, except the government of the United 
States. But if he stands by and allows others to enter upon his 
claim and first discover mineral in rock in place, the law gives 
such first discoverer a title to the mineral against which the mere 
possession of the surface cannot prevail, and in this case judg¬ 
ment must be for the defendants.” 

Crossman et al. vs. Pendery et al., U. S. Circuit Court for 
Colorado. Law Reporter, Vol. 1, p. 496. 

This decision is one of great importance, being contrary to the 
interpretation of the law which has heretofore commonly been 
received, and seemingly in direct conflict with previous rulings of 
Judge Hallet in the same Court, as expressed in his charge to the 
jury in the case of Zollar’s and Highland Chief Consolidated 
Mining Co. vs. Seth Evans, Oct. Term, 1880, as follows: 

“ On the public domain of the United States a miner may hold 
the place in 'which he may be working against all others having no 
better right. But when he asserts title to a full claim of 1500 


14 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


feet in length and 300 feet in width, he must prove a lode extend¬ 
ing throughout the claim.” [Law Reporter, Vol. 1, p. 217. 

Judge Miller’s decision, being the latest utterance of the Court 
upon this question, is now the law. It is difficult to reconcile the 
decision with the provision of the statute before quoted, that “no 
location of a mining claim shall be made until the discovery of 
the vein or lode within the limits of the claim located.” 

Perhaps the construction is that no location shall be covipleted 
by record of the location certificate, until such discovery, and that 
the posessory right which the claimant has prior to that, is some¬ 
thing outside of this statute and which is allowed by a former law. 

See Ante, Sec. 910. 

Comity Legislation. —In Colorado the area of lode claims 
allowed by law is not uniform in all counties ; being in the older 
counties of Gilpin, Clear Creek, Boulder and Summit, 1,500 by 
150, and in others 1,500 by 300 feet. 

See Col. Stat., Secs. 1811 and 1812. 

Rock in Place. —“ Rock in Place” is held to mean “ such as 
lies in a fixed position in the general mass of country rock,” as 
distinguished from loose deposits, having no wall rocks. 

The latter can be made the basis of a placer claim only. 

Stevens and Leiter vs. Williams et al; Van Zandt vs. 
The Argentine Mining Co., June 16, 1881 ; Law 
Reporter, vol. 1, p. 525. 

Location by a Minor. —A location made by a minor is valid. 

7 C. L. O. 179. 

On Sunday. —Locations made on Sunday are valid, unless 
contrary to some local law. 

8 C. L. O., p. 3. 

Proof of Citizenship. 

Sec. 2321. Proof of citizenship, under this 
chapter, may consist, in the case of an individual, 
of his own affidavit thereof; in the case of an asso¬ 
ciation of persons unincorporated, of the affidavit 
of their authorized agent, made on his own knowl¬ 
edge, or upon information and belief; and in the 


LODES. 


15 


case of a corporation organized under the laws of 
the United States, or of any state or territory 
thereof, by the filing of a certified copy of their char¬ 
ter or certificate of incorporation .—May 10 , 1872. 

No Distinction of Sex. —Mining claims may be located and 
held by both males and females, upon compliance with the laws. 

4 C. L. O. 179. 

Aliens cannot locate mining claims, but those who have 
declared their intention to become citizens, stand upon the same 
footing as citizens. 

Declaration of intention, filed after location, entitles one to 
make application for patent. 

Nature and Extent of Title, Boundaries. 

Sec. 2322., The locators of all mining locations 
heretofore made, or which shall hereafter be made, 
on any mineral vein, lode, or ledge, situated on the 
public domain, their heirs and assigns, where no 
adverse claim exists, on the tenth day of May, 1872, 
so long as they comply with the laws of the United 
States, and with state, territorial and local regula¬ 
tions not in conflict with the laws of the United 
States governing their possessory title, shall have 
the exclusive right of possession and enjoyment of 
all the surface included within the lines of their 
locations, and of all veins, lodes and ledges through¬ 
out their entire depth, the top or apex of which 
lies inside of such surface-lines extended down¬ 
ward vertically, although such veins, lodes, or 
ledges may so depart from a perpendicular in their 
course downward as to extend outside the vertical 
side-lines of such surface locations; but their right 


16 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


of possession to such outside parts of such veins 
or ledges shall be confined to such portions thereof 
as lie between vertical planes drawn downward as 
above described, through the end-lines of their 
locations, so continued in their own direction that 
such planes will intersect such exterior parts of 
such veins or ledges; and nothing in this section 
shall authorize the locator or possessor of a vein 
or lode which extends in its downward course 
beyond the vertical lines of his claim, to enter 
upon the surface of a claim owned or possessed by 

another.— May 10, 1872. 

See Col. Stat., Sec. 1819. 

' Dip .—The Dip of a vein is its departure from the perpendic¬ 
ular in its course downward. * 

Strike .—The Strike of a vein is its direction in a horizontal 
course. 

The Top or Apex is the end, or edge, or terminal point of the 
lode nearest the surface of the earth, without regard to the depth 
from the surface, at which it may be found. If found at any 
depth, and the locator can define on the surface the area which 
will enclose it, the lode may be held by such location. 

The law goes upon the theory that all veins are more or less 
vertical in the earth, and must be applied to veins that are nearly 
horizontal. Iron vs. Luella Mine, May, 1SS0. Law 

Reporter, vol. 1, p. 16. 

Dip .—To entitle a claimant to follow a vein on its dip, be¬ 
yond the side lines of his claim, he must have the apex of the 
vein within the boundaries of his claim ; the vein must be con¬ 
tinuous and in tilcice , and can be followed only so far lengthwise 
as the top or apex has been developed on said vein. 

Iron vs. Luella Mine, Law Reporter, vol. 1, p. 16. 
Iron Silver Mining Co. vs. Cheeseman et al., May 27, 
1881, charge to jury by Hallett, J, Law Reporter, 
vol. i,'p. 461. 


LODES. 


W 

A vein lying at any angle between a perpendicular and a hori¬ 
zontal position has a departure from the perpendicular, within the 
meaning of the statute, and may be followed on its dip. 

Same case. 

Location Oil Dip. —Although a location be made along the 
apex of the vein, it cannot prevail against a senior location made 
on the dip of the vein. 

[Adelaide vs. The Argentine Mining Co., U. S. Circuit 
Court, Colo., charge to jury by Judge Hallett. Law 
Reporter, vol. I, p. 5 2 5 - 

“ If the ore body is continuous, to the extent that it may main¬ 
tain that character, it is in place. 

The strength of the vein, whether it is very thin or very thick, 
is not material. But if the territory is so broken up, jumbled 
and the several parts so mixed together that there is nothing con¬ 
tinuous, there can be no lode extending from one claim to the 
other.” Same case. 

Form of Location. —The law presumes that the vein or lode 
lies in nearly a straight line. The location, therefore, should be 
substantially in the form of a parallelogram. 

Col. Stat., Sec. 1816., and diagram. 

Upon a survey which varies materially from that form, a patent 
will not be granted, unless it be shown by actual exploration and 
development, appearing in the drawings, that the location follows 
the vein. Sickels, p. 36. 



Must be contained between Parallel End Lines.— The land 
office also refused to grant a patent for a claim \yhich did not lie 





18 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


between parallel end lines, indefinitely extended, on the ground 
that the statute does not contemplate such a location. 

Thus, 



That part of the location above the line abed , not being 
within the end lines e f and c d as extended, the location is bad. 

Sickels, 39. 



For the same reason, a location in the form of the above figure is 
bad, since the end lines when extended include nothing. 

Sickels, p. 40, 

Discovery Within Another’s Claim'.— Ground duly located 
and staked cannot be entered for prospecting purposes; and a 
location based upon a discovery within the boundaries of anoth¬ 
er’s claim is void. Sickels, p. 48 and cases cited. 

Vein Confined to Side Lines. —“A miner cannot follow his 
lode when, in its general strike or course, it departs from the ver- 








LODES. 


19 


tical side lines. After its departure, it is the subject of location 
by whomsoever it may be discovered.” [4 Colo., 112. 

The Act of 18G6, which is repealed, allowed the miner to fol¬ 
low his vein wherever it should lead for the length of a claim, 
regardless of its boundaries. 

Tile Location of Veins, under the present law, must be along 
the vein, and the side lines must be ^ym-distant from the centre 
of the vein. Consequently, if, at any point along the side lines, 
the vein departs from the surface boundaries, the location beyond 
such point is “defeasible if not void.” 3 Colo., 533. 

Thus, 



If the figure abed represent the location, only so much of the 
claim as lies within the space e f c g can be held. The dotted 
lines indicate the true location. 

Vein Must he in Centre of Location.— Or if the vein is not 
found along the centre of location lengthwise, so that the distance 
to either side line is greater than half the width, the excess can¬ 
not, in Colorado, be held. The presumption, however, is that 
the vein lies along the middle of the claim when the location, in 
other respects, has been properly made, and in a contested case 
the burden of proof would be upon him who denied that the 
vein was properly located. 

Not Applicable to Patented Claims. —But these rules do 
not apply to patented claims. 

Angles and Variations. —Notwithstanding the location cer¬ 
tificate commonly claims the vein with all its dips, variations and 
angles, such angles or variations as take the vein beyond the side 
lines cannot be followed under the present law ; under the law of 
1866 they could be. The width which the law allows to a claim 







20 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


is intended to cover all probable errors in the course of the vein ; 
and the law allows three months after discovery in which to com¬ 
plete the location. This time should be employed in determining 
as nearly as possible the true course of the vein. 

See Col. Stat., Sec. 1813. 

Tile Course of a True Vein is usually northerly and southerly. 

Errors Of Location may be corrected by a relocation. 

See Col. Stat., Sec. 1823. 

End Lines. —In no case can the vein be followed beyond the 
end lines of the claim. See Col. Stat., Secs. 1819-1820. 


Tunnel Sites. 

Sec. 2323. Where a tunnel is run for the de¬ 
velopment of a vein or lode, or for the discovery 
of mines, the owners of such tunnel shall have the 
right of possession of all veins or lodes within 
three thousand feet from the face of such tunnel on 
the line thereof, not previously known to exist, 
discovered in such tunnel, to the same extent as if 
discovered from the surface; and locations on the 
line of such tunnel, of veins or lodes not appearing 
on the surface, made by other parties after the 
commencement of the tunnel, and while the same is 
being prosecuted with reasonable diligence, shall 
be invalid; but failure to prosecute the work on 
the tunnel for six months shall be considered as 
an abandonment of the right to all undiscovered 
veins on the line of such tunnel .—May 10, 1872. 

Construction by Laud Office. —The effect of this is simply to 
give the proprietors of a mining tunnel, run in good faith, the pos¬ 
sessory right to 1500 feet of any blind lodes, cut, discovered or in¬ 
tersected by such tunnel, which were not previously known to exist, 


TUNNEL SITES. 


21 


within 3) 000 feet from the face or point of commencement of 
such tunnel, and to prohibit other parties, after the commence¬ 
ment of the tunnel, from prospecting for and making locations of 
lodes on the line thereof, and within said distance of 3,000 feet, 
unless such lodes appear upon the surface, or were previously 
known to exist. Land Office Rules, 21. 

Width. —The line of a tunnel is the width thereof, and no 
more ; this line must be marked on the surface by stakes placed 
along the same, from the commencement to the terminus of the 
tunnel, in the manner applicable to the location of veins or lodes. 

L. O. Rules, 23. C. M. D. 144. 

No patent can issue for a vein or lode without surface ground. 

The survey of a vein or lode discovered in a tunnel can not 
properly be made until the apex thereof has been ascertained by 
sinking a shaft, or by following it from the point of discovery. 

Sickels, p. 368. 

Location Notice. —The proprietors of a mining tunnel are 
required to give proper notice of their tunnel location, by erecting 
a substantial post, board or monument at the face or point of com¬ 
mencement thereof, upon which should be posted a notice in 
substantially the following form : 

The - Tunnel Site. 

Located by -; date, -; course, -; 3,000 feet, to 

blazed pine tree (or other land-mark) ; height of tunnel,- 

feet; width,-feet. 

Record. —A certificate signed by the locators, and specifying 
the place of commencement and termination, should be recorded 
at the same time. Colo. Laws, sec. 1800. (Lodes and Placers.) 

Cannot be Patented. —Tunnel locations cannot be patented, 
but lodes discovered in running a tunnel may be. C. M. D. 193. 

Location of Veins Cut. —When in running the tunnel a lode 
is struck, the surface ground which overlies the apex must be 
ascertained and the claim then duly located, as if discovered from 
the surface. 5 C. L. O. 130. 

Judicial Construction. —“ The line of a tunnel is the width 
thereof and no more ; and upon this line only is prospecting for 

3 










22 


UNITED STATES LAWS, 


blind lodes prohibited, while the working of the tunnel is in pro¬ 
gress; and the right is granted to the tunnel owners to 1,500 feet 
of each blind lode, not previously known to exist, which may be 
discovered in such tunnel, but other parties are in no way de¬ 
barred from prospecting for blind lodes or running tunnels, so 
long as they keep without the line of the tunnel, as herein defined ; 
the said line being required by regulations to be marked on the 
surface by stakes or monuments, placed along the same from the 
face or point of commencement to the terminus of the tunnel line 
aforesaid. When a lode is struck or discovered for the first time, 
by running a tunnel, the tunnel owners have the option of recording 
their claim of 1,500 feet all on one side of the point of discovery 
or intersection, or partly upon one and partly upon the other side 
thereof ; but in no case can they so record a claim as to absorb 
the actual or constructive claim or possession of other parties, on 
a lode which has been discovered and claimed outside the line of 
the tunnel before the discovery thereof in the tunnel." 

Sickels, p. 365. 

Corning Tunnel Co. vs. Pell. 4 Colo. 507. 

District Rules, Annual Labor, Co-Owners, 

Amendments. 

* % 

Sec. 2324. The miners of each mining-district 
may make regulations not in conflict with the laws 
of the United States, or with the laws of the state 
or territory in which the district is situated, govern¬ 
ing the location, manner of recording, and amount 
of work necessary to hold possession of a mining- 
claim, subject to the following requirements : The 
location must be distinctly marked on the ground 
so that its boundaries can be readily traced. All 
records of mining-claims hereafter made shall con¬ 
tain the name or names of the locators, the date of 
the location, and such a description of the claim or 


LODES AND PLACERS. 


23 


claims located by reference to some natural object 
or permanent monument as will identify the claim. 
On each claim located after the 10th day of May, 
1872, and until a patent has been issued therefor, 
not less than one hundred dollars’ worth of labor 
shall be performed or improvements made during 
each year. On all claims located prior to the 10th 
day of May, 1872, ten dollars’ worth of labor shall 
be performed or improvements made, by the 10th 
day of June, 1874, and each year thereafter, for 
each one hundred feet in length along the vein 
until a patent has been issued therefor; but where 
such claims are held in common, such expenditure 
may be made upon any one claim; and upon a fail¬ 
ure to comply with these conditions, the claim or 
mine upon which such failure occurred shall be 
open to relocation in the same manner as if no 
location of'the same had ever been made, provided 
that the original locators, their heirs, assigns, or 
legal representatives, have not resumed work .upon 
the claim after failure and before such location. 
Upon the failure of any one of several co-owners, 
to contribute his proportion of the expenditures 
required hereby, the co-owners who have per¬ 
formed the labor or made the improvements may, 
at the expiration of the year, give such delinquent 
co-owner personal notice in writing, or notice by 
publication in the newspaper published nearest the 
claim, for at least once a week for ninety days, and 
if at the expiration of ninety days after such notice 


24 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


in writing or by publication such delinquent should 
fail or refuse to contribute his proportion of the 
expenditure required by this section, his interest 
in the claim shall become the property of his co¬ 
owners who have made the required expenditures. 

(amendment a.) 

That section 2324 of the Revised Statutes be, 
and the same is hereby amended, so that where a 
person or company has or may run a tunnel for 
the purpose of developing a lode or lodes, owned 
by said person or company, the money so ex¬ 
pended in said tunnel shall be taken and considered 
as expended on said lode or lodes, whether located 
prior to or since the passage of said act; and such 
person or company shall not be required to per¬ 
form work on the surface of said lode or lodes in 
order to hold the same, as required by said act.— 
Feb. 11, 1875. 

(amendment b.) 

That section 2324 of the Revised Statutes of 
the United States be amended by adding the fol¬ 
lowing words: Provided , that the period within 
which the work required to be done annually on 
all unpatented mineral claims shall commence on 
the 1st day of January succeeding the date of loca¬ 
tion of such claim, and this section shall apply to 
all claims located since the 10th day of May, A. D. 
1872.— Jan. 22, 1880. 

This amendment (B.) settles a hitherto doubtful and much dis¬ 
puted question. 


LODES AND PLACERS. 


25 


Upon a claim located on the 1st day of June, 1881, the first 
annual labor or assessment must be performed some time between 
Jan. 1st, 1SS2, and Dec. 31st, 1882. 

Location Work. —The work done in making the location 
would not count as a part of the first annual assessment. 

7 C. L. O. p. 130. 

After Entry of Application for Patent no annual labor is 
recpiired, since the patent, when issued, relates back to the date 
of entry. 

Neglect to do the annual labor as required by law leaves a 
claim open to relocation, but does not, of itself, work a forfeiture. 

Computation of Labor. —The value of labor and improve¬ 
ments upon any claim are to be computed from the current prices 
of labor and materials. 

Forfeiture by Co-owner. —Where more than the annual 
assessment ($100) has been expended on a claim a co-owner is 
only required to pay his proportion thereof to save a forfeiture. 

Where additional expenses have been incurred on the property 
by a co-owner with the others’ knowledge and consent, the latter’s 
share of the expenses is to be recovered in another way, by suit. 

•Kohn vs. Central Smelting Co. et al. U. S. Supreme 
Court. 8 C. L. O., 22. 

Co-owners are not Copartners where no partnership agree¬ 
ment exists between them. They are tenants in common, and the 
interest of each one, however small, entitles him to an equal voice 
in the control of the property. For this reason it is usually better 
for owners to enter into some agreement as to the management of 
the property, or to incorporate a company. 

See Charles vs. Eschleman, Col. Supreme Court. Deci¬ 
sion by Beck, J., January, 1880. 

Relocation by one of several owners. — Where several 
owners have all neglected to do the annual assessment and the 
claim becomes open to relocation as abandoned property, a new 
location by one of the former owners would not enure to the 
benefit of the others. 

Strang vs. Ryan, 46 Cal., p. 43. 8 C. L. O., 3. 


26 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


Patents. 

Any person, association or corporation, having located a min¬ 
ing claim, having complied with the laws respecting the same and 
having expended the sum of $500 in labor or improvements upon 
said claim, may obtain a Government patent therefor in the man¬ 
ner prescribed by sections 2325, 2326, 2327 and 2328 following. 

In applying for a patent the services of a competent surveyor 
and attorney are required. 

Application for Patents. 

Sec. 2325. A patent for any land claimed and 
located for valuable deposits may be obtained in 
the following manner: Any person, association, or 
corporation authorized to locate a claim under this 
chapter, having claimed and located a piece of land 
for such purposes, who has, or have, complied 
with the terms of this chapter, may file in the 
proper land-office an application for a patent, under 
oath, showing such compliance, together with a 
plat and field notes of the claim or claims in com¬ 
mon, made by or under the direction of the 
United States Surveyor-General, showing accu¬ 
rately the boundaries of the claim or claims, which 
shall be distinctly marked by monuments, on the 
ground, and shall post a copy of such plat, to¬ 
gether with a notice of such application for a 
patent, in a conspicuous place on the land em¬ 
braced in such plat, previous to the filing of the 
application for a patent, and shall file an affidavit 
of at least two persons that such notice has been 
duly posted, and shall file a copy of the notice in 
such land-office, and shall thereupon be entitled to 


PATENTS. 


27 


a patent to the land, in the manner following: The 
Register of the Land-Office, upon the filing of 
such application, plat, field notes, notices, and affi¬ 
davits, shall publish a notice that such application 
has been made, for the period of sixty days, in a 
newspaper to be by him designated as published 
nearest to such claim; and he shall also post such 
notice in his office for the same period. The claim¬ 
ant, at the time of filing this application, or at any 
time thereafter, within the sixty days of publica¬ 
tion, shall file with the Register a certificate of the 
United States Surveyor-General that five hundred 
dollars’ worth of labor has been expended or im¬ 
provements made upon the claim by himself or 
grantors; that the plat is correct, with such further 
description by such reference to natural objects or 
permanent monuments as shall identify the claim, 
and furnish an accurate description, to be incorpo¬ 
rated in the patent. At the expiration of sixty 
days of publication the claimant shall file his affi¬ 
davit, showing that the plat and notice have been 
posted in a conspicuous place on the claim during 
such period of publication. If no adverse claim 
shall have been filed with the Register and the 
Receiver of the proper land-office at the expiration 
of the sixty days of publication, it shall be assumed 
that the applicant is entitled to a patent, upon the 
payment to the proper officer of five dollars per 
acre, and that no adverse claim exists; and there¬ 
after no objection from third parties to the issu- 


28 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


ance of a patent shall be heard, except it be shown 
that the applicant has failed to comply with the 
terms of this chapter .—May 10, i8j2. 

AMENDMENT. 

Provided , that where the claimant for a patent is 
not a resident of, or within the land district wherein 
the vein, lode, ledge or deposit sought to be pat¬ 
ented is located, the application for patent and the 
affidavits required to be made maybe made by his, 
her or its authorized agent, where said agent is 
conversant with the facts sought to be established 
by said affidavits ; and , provided , that this section 
shall apply to all applications now pending for 
patents to mineral lands .—January 22, 1880. 

Adverse Claim, Proceedings On.- 

Sec. 2326. Where an adverse claim is filed 
during the period of publication, it shall be upon 
oath of the person or persons making the same, 
and shall show the nature, boundaries, and extent 
of such adverse claim, and all proceedings, except 
the publication of notice and making and filing of 
the affidavit thereof, shall be stayed until the con¬ 
troversy shall have been settled or decided by a 
court of competent jurisdiction, or the adverse 
claim waived. It shall be the duty of the adverse 
claimant, within thirty days after filing his claim to 
commence proceedings in a court of competent 
jurisdiction, to determine the question of the right 
of possession, and prosecute the same with reason¬ 
able diligence to final judgment; and a failure so 


PATENTS. 


2 9 


to do shall be a waiver of his adverse claim. After 
such judgment shall have been rendered, the party 
entitled to the possession of the claim, or any por¬ 
tion thereof, may, without giving further notice, file 
a certified copy of the judgment-roll with the 
Register of the Land-Office, together with the certifi¬ 
cate of the Surveyor-General that the requisite 
amount of labor has been expended or improve¬ 
ments made thereon, and the description required 
in other cases, and shall pay to the Receiver five 
dollars per acre for his claim, together with the 
proper fees, whereupon the whole proceedings and 
the judgment-roll shall be certified by the Register 
to the Commissioner of the General Land-Office, 
and a patent shall issue thereon for the claim, or 
such portion thereof as the applicant shall appear, 
from the decision of the Court, to rightly possess. 
If it appears from the decision of the Court that 
several parties are entitled to separate and different 
portions of the claim, each party may pay for his 
portion of the claim, with the proper fees, and file 
the certificate and description by the Surveyor- 
General, whereupon the Register shall certify the 
proceedings and judgment-roll to the Commis¬ 
sioner of the General Land-Office, as in the pre¬ 
ceding case, and patents shall issue to the several 
parties according to their respective rights. Noth¬ 
ing herein contained shall be construed to prevent 
the alienation of the title conveyed by a patent for 
a mining-claim to any person whatever .—May 10, 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


'i 

0 


O 


Survey. 

Sec. 2327. The description of vein or lode 
claims, upon surveyed lands shall designate the 
location of the claim with reference to the lines of 
the public surveys, but need not conform there¬ 
with; but where a patent shall be issued for claims 
upon unsurveyed lands, the surveyor-general, in. 
extending the surveys, shall adjust the same to the 
boundaries of such patented claim, according to the 
plat or description thereof, but so as in no case to 
interfere with or change the location of any such 
patented claim .—May 10, 18 J 2. 

Pending Applications. 

Sec. 2328. Applications for patents for mining- 
claims under former laws now pending, may be 
prosecuted to a final decision in the general land 
office; but in such cases where adverse rights are 
not affected thereby, patents may issue in pursu¬ 
ance of the provisions of this chapter, and all 
patents for mining-claims upon veins or lodes here¬ 
tofore issued, shall convey all the rights and privi¬ 
leges conferred by this chapter, where no adverse 
rights existed on the 10th day of May, 1872 .—May 
10, 1872. 

Correction Of Errors. —An error of description in a patent 
will be corrected by issue of a new patent. C. M. D., 41. 

Where patent was inadvertently issued, or procured through 
fraud, it will be cancelled. > C. L. O., 2. 

Procedure. —In such case the General Land Office will ask 
the Department of Tustice that the party injured be permitted to 


PLACERS. 


3 1 


use the name of the United States in the prosecution of proper 
proceedings in the Courts. C. M. D., 213. 

See also note to Sec. 2333. (Judge Hallett’s decision.) 

Third Parties .—But these rules would not apply to the injury 
of bona fide purchasers of patented claims where the patent on its 
face is regular. 

Purchase after entry. —Where a party becomes a purchaser 
after date of entry the patent will issue to such purchaser. 

C. M. D., 163. 

Intersecting* Patents. —Where patent issues for a mining 
claim which crosses one already patented the surface ground in 
the interference is excepted from the second patent, but the sub¬ 
sequent patentee has the right to his lode for the distance patented 
with the proviso that the ore at the space of intersection shall 

belong to the prior location. 2 C. L. O., 178. 

« 

Placers. 

Subject to Entry. 

Sec. 2329. Claims usually called “placers,” in¬ 
cluding all forms of deposit, excepting veins of 
quartz or'other rock in place, shall be subject to 
entry and patent, under like circumstances and 
conditions, and upon similar proceedings, as are 
provided for vein or lode claims; but where the 
lands have been previously surveyed by the United 
States, the entry in its exterior limits shall conform 
to the legal sub-divisions of the public lands.— 
July 9, 1870. 

See Col. Stat. (Placers.) 

Placers on Surveyed Lands. Joint Entry. 

Sec. 2330. Legal subdivisions of forty acres 
may be subdivided into ten-acre tracts; and two 
or more persons, or associations of persons, having 


32 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


contiguous claims of any size, although such claims 
may be less than ten acres each, may make joint 
entry thereof; but no location of a placer-claim, 
made after the 9th day of July, 1870, shall exceed 
160 acres for any one person or association of per¬ 
sons, which location shall conform to the United 
States surveys; and nothing in this section con¬ 
tained shall defeat or impair any bona fide pre¬ 
emption or homestead claim upon agricultural 
lands, or authorize the sale of the improvements of 
any bona fide settler to any purchaser .—-July 9, 
1870. 

Placers on Unsurveyed Lands. 

Sec. 2331. Where placer-claims are upon sur¬ 
veyed lands, and conform to legal subdivisions, no 
further survey or plat shall be required, and all 
placer-mining claims located after the tenth day of 
May, 1872, shall conform as near as practicable 
with the United States system of public land-sur¬ 
veys, and the rectangular subdivisions of such 
surveys, and no such location shall include more 
than twenty acres for each individual claimant; 
but where placer-claims cannot be conformed to 
legal subdivisions, survey and plat shall be made 
as on unsurveyed lands; and where by the segre¬ 
gation of mineral lands in any legal subdivision a 
quantity of agricultural land less than forty acres 
remains, such fractional portion of agricultural land 
may be entered, by any party qualified by law, for 
homestead or pre-emption purposes .—May 10,1872 . 


PLACERS. 


33 


Location and size Of. —Two or more persons having contig. 
uqus claims may make joint entry thereof, but no placer claim 
shall exceed 160 acres, and no location shall include more than 
twenty acres for each individual claimant. 

Title Acquired Under Statute of Limitations. 

Sec. 2332. Where such person or association, 
they or their grantors, have held and worked their 
claims for a period equal to the time prescribed by 
the statute of limitations for mining-claims of the 
state or territory where the same may be situated, 
evidence of such possession and working of the 
claims for such period shall be sufficient to estab¬ 
lish a right to a patent thereto under this chapter, 
in the absence of any adverse claim; but nothing 
in this chapter shall be deemed to impair any lien 
which may have attached in any way whatever to 
any mining-claim or property thereto attached 
prior to the issuance of a patent .—July p, 1870. 

Placer Containing Lode. 

Sec. 2333. Where the same person, association, 
or corporation, is in possession of a placer-claim, 
and also a vein or lode included within the bound¬ 
aries thereof, applications shall be made for a pat¬ 
ent for the placer-claim, with the statement that it 
includes such vein or lode, and in such case a 
patent shall issue for the placer-claim subject to 
the provisions of this chapter, including such vein 
or lode, upon the payment of five dollars per acre 
for such vein or lode claim, and twenty-five feet of 
surface on each side thereof. The remainder of 


4 


34 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


the placer-claim, or any placer-claim not embracing 
any vein or lode claim, shall be paid for at the rate 
of two dollars and fifty cents per acre, together 
with all costs of proceedings; and where a vein or 
lode, such as is described in section 2320, is known 
to exist within the boundaries of a placer-claim, 
an application for a patent for such placer-claim, 
which does not include an application for the vein 
or lode claim, shall be construed as a conclusive 
declaration that the claimant of the placer-claim 
has no right of possession of the vein or lode 
claim; but where the existence of a vein or lode in 
a placer-claim is not known, a patent for .the placer- 
claim shall convey all valuable mineral and other de¬ 
posits within the boundaries thereof .—May 10,1872. 

Proof. —Parties making entry of a, placer claim must make 
satisfactory proof that it does not contain any known vein or lode 
of quartz, or other rock in place, bearing valuable minerals. 

C. M. D. 226. 

Lode witllill Placer. —If it can be shown that a placer claim 
embraces a lode or vein, which was known to the claimant, but 
not applied for, the application may be adversed, .or a patent may 
be set aside for fraud, since the price per acre of placer land is 
one-half less than that of lode claims. 

Limitation. —“All placer mining patents granted by the 
United States since July 9th, 1870, which embrace more than 160 
acres of land, are utterly null and void , because contrary to the 
Act of Congress, July 9th, 1870. And the Court will allow testi¬ 
mony outside of the patent to show that the land was entered 
either before or since July 9th, iS7o.’ : 

Decision of Judge Hallett, in case of St. Louis Mining 
and Smelting Co. vs. Smith, U. S. Circuit Court, 
Colo., June 10th, 1SS0. 


SURVEY. 


35 


Surveyor-General to Appoint Surveyors of 
Mining-Claims, etc. 

Sec. 2334. The Surveyor-General of the United 
States may appoint in each land-district containing 
mineral lands as many competent surveyors as 
shall apply for appointment to survey mining- 
claims. The expenses of the survey of vein or 
lode claims, and the survey and subdivision of 
placer-claims into smaller quantities than 160 acres, 
together with the cost of publication of notices, 
shall be paid by the applicants, and they shall be 
at liberty to obtain the same at the most reason¬ 
able rates, and they shall also be at liberty to 
employ any United States deputy-surveyor to make 
the survey. The Commissioner of the General 
Land-Office shall also have power to establish 
the maximum charges for surveys and publication 
of notices under this chapter; and, in case of 
excessive charges for publication, he may desig¬ 
nate any newspaper published in a land-district 
where mines are situated for the publication of 
mining-notices in such district, and fix the rates to 
be charged by such paper; and, to the end that the 
Commissioner may be fully informed on the sub¬ 
ject, each applicant shall file with the Register a 
sworn statement of all charges and fees paid by 
such applicant for publication and surveys, to¬ 
gether with all fees and money paid the Register 
and the Receiver of the Land-Office, which state¬ 
ment shall be transmitted, with the other papers 


36 UNITED STATES LAWS. 

in the case, to the Commissioner of the General 
Land-Office .—May 10 , 1872. 

Verification of Affidavits, etc. 

Sec. 2335. All affidavits required to be made 
under this chapter may be verified before any 
officer authorized to administer oaths within the 
land-district where the claims may be situated, and 
all testimony and proofs may be taken before any 
such officer, and, when duly certified by the officer 
taking the same, shall have the same force and 
effect as if taken before the Register and Receiver 
of the Land-Office. In cases of contest as to the 
mineral or agricultural character of land, the tes¬ 
timony and proofs may be taken as herein pro¬ 
vided, on personal notice of at least ten days to 
the opposing party-; or if such party cannot be 
found, then by publication of at least once a week for 
thirty days in a newspaper, to be designated by the 
Register of the Land-Office as published nearest 
to the location of such land; and the Register 
shall require proof that such notice has been given. 
—May 10, 1872. 

Intersecting Veins.—Veins Uniting. 

Sec. 2336. Where two or more veins intersect 
or cross each other, priority of title shall govern, 
and such prior location shall be entitled to all ore 
or mineral contained within the space of intersec¬ 
tion; but the subsequent location shall have the 
right of way through the space of intersection, for 


MILL SITES. 


37 


the purposes of the convenient working of the mine. 
And where two or more veins unite, the oldest, or 
prior location, shall take the vein below the point 
of union, including all the space of intersection.— 
May 10, 1872. 

Col. Laws. 1802-3. (Miscellaneous.) 
Mill Sites, Etc. 

Sec. 2337. Where non-mineral land not con¬ 
tiguous to the vein or lode, is used or occupied by 
the proprietor of such vein or lode, for mining or 
milling purposes, such non-adjacent surface ground 
may be embraced and included in an application 
for a patent for such vein or lode, and the same 
may be patented therewith, subject to the same 
preliminary requirements as to survey and notice 
as are applicable to veins or lodes; but no location 
hereafter made of such non-adjacent land shall 
exceed five acres, and payment for the same must 
be made at jthe same rate as fixed by this chapter 
for the superficies of the lode. The owner of a 
quartz mill or reduction works, not owning a mine 
in connection therewith, may also receive a patent 
for his mill-site, as provided in this section .—May 
io, 18 J2. 

Must adjoin side of claim. —A mill site which abuts against 
the end of a lode claim cannot be patented, although a mill site 
contiguous to the side lines may be. Sickels, p. 461. 

Not adjoining' Lode. —To entitle the owner of a mill site, not 
adjoining a lode, to make application for a patent, there must be 
$500 worth of labor or improvements upon such mill site. 

4 C. L. O. 


38 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


Joint Entry. —But where entry for patent is made of a lode 
and mill site jointly and there are $500 worth of improvements on 
the lode claim, no improvements are required on the mill site. 

1 L. O., 2. 

Location. —Mill sites may be located by a declaratory statement 
according to the form given in section 2128 of the General Laws. 

Conditions Imposed—Easements. 

Sec. 2338. As a condition of sale, in the absence 
of necessary legislation by Congress, the local 
Legislature of any State or Territory may provide 
rules for working mines involving easements, drain,- 
age, and other necessary means to their complete 
development; and those conditions shall be fully 
expressed in the patent .—July 26, 1866. 

Col. Stat. 1798, et cet. (Easements.) 

Water Rights. 

Sec. 2339. Whenever, by a priority of possession, 
rights to the use of water for mining, agricultural, 
manufacturing, or other purposes, have vested and 
accrued, and the same are recognized and acknowl¬ 
edged by the local customs, laws and the decisions 
of courts, the possessors and owners of such 
vested rights shall be maintained and protected in 
the same; and the right of way for the construc¬ 
tion of ditches and canals for the purposes herein 
specified is acknowledged and confirmed; but when¬ 
ever any person, in the construction of any ditch or 
canal, injures or damages the possession of any 
settler on the public domain, the party committing 
such injury or damage shall be liable to the party 
injured for such injury or damage .—Jiily 26 , 1866. 


LODES AND PLACERS. 


39 


Sec. 2340. All patents granted, or pre-emption 
or homesteads allowed, shall be subject to any 
vested and accrued water-rights, or rights to ditches 
and reservoirs used in connection with such water 
rights, as may have been acquired under or recog¬ 
nized by the preceding section .—July p, 18jo. 

Homestead Rights on Mineral Lands. 

Sec. 2341. Wherever, upon the lands hereto¬ 
fore designated as mineral lands, which have been 
excluded from survey and sale, there have been 
homesteads made by citizens of the United States, 
or persons who have declared their intention to 
become citizens, which homesteads have been 
made, improved and used for agricultural purposes, 
and upon which there have been no valuable 
mines of gold, silver, cinnabar or copper discov¬ 
ered, and which are properly agricultural lands, 
the settlers or owners of such homesteads shall 
have a right of pre-emption thereto, and shall be 
entitled to purchase the same at the price of one 
dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and in quan¬ 
tity not to exceed 160 acres, or they may avail 
themselves of the provisions of chapter 5 of this title, 
relating to “ Homesteads .”—July 26 , 1866. 

Separation of Agricultural Lands. 

Sec. 2342. Upon the survey of the lands de¬ 
scribed in the preceding section, the Secretary of 
the Interior may designate and set apart such por¬ 
tions of the same as are clearly agricultural lands, 


I 


40 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


which lands shall thereafter be subject to pre-emp¬ 
tion and sale as other public lands, and be subject 
to all the laws and regulations applicable to the 
same .—July 2 6, 1866. 

Land Districts. 

Sec. 2343. The President is authorized to es¬ 
tablish additional land districts, and to appoint the 
necessary officers under existing laws, wherever he 
may deem the same necessary for the public con¬ 
venience in executing the provisions of this 
chapter .—July 26 , 1866. 

Colorado has six land districts, with offices located at Denver, 
Leadville, Central, Pueblo, Del Norte, and Lake City, respect¬ 
ively. 

Vested Rights Respected. 

Sec. 2344. Nothing contained in this chapter 
shall be construed to impair, in any way, rights or 
interests in mining property acquired under exist¬ 
ing laws .—May 10 , 1872. 

Sec. 2345. 

(Excepts the States of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota 
from the operations of this Act.) 

State and Railroad Grants. 

Sec. 2346. No act passed at the first session of 
the Thirty-Eighth Congress, granting lands to 
States or corporations to aid in the construction of 
roads or for other purposes, orJto extend the time 
of grants made prior to the thirtieth day of January, 
1865, shall be so construed as to embrace mineral 


LODES AND PLACERS. 


41 


lands, which in all cases are reserved exclusively 
to the United States, unless otherwise specially 
provided in the Act or Acts making the grant.— 
Jan. jo, 186j. 


COAL LANDS. 

Lazos of the United States. Revised Statutes , 1878. 

Act of March j, 1873. 

Sec. 2347. Every person above the age of 
twenty-one years, who is a citizen of the United 
States, or who has declared his intention to become 
such, or any association of persons severally quali¬ 
fied as above, shall, upon application to the register 
of the proper land-office, have the right to enter, 
by legal subdivisions, any quantity of vacant coal- 
lands of the United States not otherwise appropri¬ 
ated or reserved by competent authority, not 
exceeding 160 acres to such individual person, or 
320 acres to such association, upon payment to the 
receiver of not less than ten dollars per acre for 
such lands, where the same shall be situated more 
than fifteen miles from any completed railroad, 
and not less than twenty dollars per acre for such 
lands as shall be within fifteen miles of such road. 

Settlers Preferred. 

Sec. 2348. Any person or association of per¬ 
sons, severally qualified, as above provided, who 
have opened and improved, or shall hereafter open 



42 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


and improve, any coal mine or mines upon the 
public lands, and shall be in actual possession of the 
same, shall be entitled to a preference-right of 
entry, under the preceding section, of the mines so 
opened and improved; provided , That when any 
association of not less than four persons, severally 
qualified as above provided, shall have expended 
not less than five thousand dollars in working and 
improving any such mine or mines, such associa¬ 
tion may enter not exceeding 640 acres, including 
such mining improvements. 

Land-Office Proceedings. 

Sec. 2349. All claims under the preceding section 
must be presented to the register of the proper land- 
district within sixty days after the date of actual 
possession and the commencement of improve¬ 
ments on the land, by the filing of a declaratory 
statement therefor; but when the township plat is 
not on file at the date of such improvement, filing 
must be made within sixty days from the receipt 
of such plat at the district office; and where the 
improvements shall have been made prior to the ex¬ 
piration of three months from the 3d day of March, 
1873, sixty days from the expiration of such 
three months shall be allowed for the filing of a 
declaratory statement, and no sale under the pro¬ 
visions of this section shall be allowed until 
the expiration of six months from the 3d day of 
March, 1873. 


LODES AND PLACERS. 


43 


Entry Limited. 

Sec. 2350. The three preceding sections shall 
be held to authorize only one entry by the same 
person or association of persons; and no associa¬ 
tion of persons, any member of which shall have 
taken the benefit of such sections, either as an indi¬ 
vidual or as a member of any other association, 
shall enter or hold any other lands under the pro¬ 
visions thereof; and no member of any association 
which shall have taken the benefit of such sections 
shall enter or hold any other lands under their 
provisions; and all persons claiming under section 
2348 shall be required to prove their respective 
rights and pay for the lands filed upon within one 
year from the time prescribed for filing their 
respective claims; and upon failure to file the 
proper notice, or to pay for the land within the 
required period, the same shall be subject to entry 
by any other qualified applicant. 

Conflicting Claims. 

Sec. 2351. In case of conflicting claims upon 
coal lands where the improvements shall be 
commenced, after the 3d day of March, 1873, 
priority of possession and improvement, followed 
by proper filing and continued good faith, shall 
determine the preference-right to purchase. And 
also where improvements have already been made 
prior to the third day of March, 1873, division of 
the land claimed may be made by legal subdivi- 


44 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


sions, to include, as near as may be, the valuable 
improvements of the respective parties. The Com¬ 
missioner of the General Land Office is authorized 
to issue all needful rules and regulations for carry¬ 
ing into effect the provisions of this and the four 
preceding sections. 

Vested Rights—Restrictions. 

Sec. 2352. Nothing in the five preceding sec¬ 
tions shall be construed to destroy or impair any 
rights which may have attached prior to the third 
day of March, 1873, or to authorize the sale of 
lands valuable for mines of gold, silver, or copper. 


TIMBER ON MINERAL LANDS. 

United States Statutes , 1877-78, Chapter 150,page 88. 

An Act authorizing the citizens of Colorado, Nevada and the ter¬ 
ritories to fell and remove timber on the public domain for 
mining and domestic purposes. Approved June 3d, 1878. 

TIMBER FREE TO MINERS, ETC. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre¬ 
sentatives of the United States of America , in Con¬ 
gress assembled , That all citizens of the United 
States and other persons, bona fide residents of the 
state of Colorado, or Nevada, or either of the ter¬ 
ritories of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, 
Dakota, Idaho, or Montana, and all other mineral 
districts of the United States, shall be, and are 



TIMBER ACT, 


45 - 


hereby, authorized and permitted to fell and re¬ 
move, for building, agricultural, mining, or other 
domestic purposes, any timber or other trees grow¬ 
ing or being on the public lands, said lands being 
mineral, and not subject to entry under existing 
laws of the United States, except for mineral entry, 
in either of said states, territories or districts of 
which such citizens or persons may be at the time 
bona fide residents, subject to such rules and regu¬ 
lations as the Secretary of the Interior may pre¬ 
scribe for the protection of the timber and of the 
undergrowth growing upon such lands, and for 
other purposes: Provided , the provisions of this 

Act shall not extend to railroad corporations. 

. - > 

Land Office Inspection. 

Sec. 2. That it shall be the duty of the register 
and the receiver of any local land office in whose 
district any mineral land may be situated, to ascer¬ 
tain from time to time whether any timber is being 
cut or used upon any such lands, except for the 
purposes authorized by this Act, within their re¬ 
spective land districts; and, if so, they shall imme¬ 
diately notify the Commissioner of the General 
Land Office of that fact; and all necessary expenses 
incurred in making such proper examinations shall 
be paid aryd allowed such register and receiver in 
making up their next quarterly accounts. 

Penalty. 

Sec. 3. Any person or persons who shall violate 
the provisions of this Act, or any rules and regu- 

5 


46 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


lations in pursuance thereof made by the Secretary 
of the Interior, shall be deemed guilty of a misde¬ 
meanor, and, upon conviction, shall be fined in any 
sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, and to 
which may be added imprisonment for any term 
not exceeding six months. 

Approved June j, i8j8. 

Rules and Regulations for the Protection 

of Timber. 

With a view to, and the intention of, preserving 
the young timber and undergrowth upon the min¬ 
eral lands of the United States, and to the end 
that the mountain sides may not be left denuded 
and barren of the timber and undergrowth neces¬ 
sary to prevent the precipitation of the rain-fall 
and melting snows in floods upon the fertile, arable 
lands in the valleys below, thus destroying the 
agricultural and pasturage interests of the mineral 
and mountainous portions of the country, I do 
hereby make and cause to be promulgated, by vir¬ 
tue of the power vested in me by the Act entitled 
“An Act authorizing the citizens of Colorado, 
Nevada and the territories (excepting Washington 
territory), to fell and remove timber on the public 
domain for mining and domestic purposes,” the fol¬ 
lowing rules and regulations: 

i. Section 2461, Revised Statutes, is still in 
force in all the states and territories named in the 
bill, and its provisions may be enforced as hereto¬ 
fore against persons trespassing upon any other 


TIMBER ACT. 


47 


than lands which are in fact mineral, or have been 
withdrawn as such; and in all cases where tres¬ 
passes are committed upon the timber upon public 
lands which are not mineral, the trespassers will 
be prosecuted under said section. 

2. It shall be unlawful for any person to cut or 
remove, or cause to be cut or removed, from any 
of the mineral lands of the United States, any tim¬ 
ber or undergrowth of any kind whatever less than 
eight inches in diameter ; and any person so offend¬ 
ing shall be liable to be fined, in compliance with 
the provisions of the third section of said Act, in 
any sum not exceeding five hundred- dollars, and 
to which may be added imprisonment for any term 
not exceeding six months. 

J. A. Williamson, 

Commissioner. 

Approved August 16, 1878, by C. ScnxjRZ, Secretary- 

Timber on Mineral Lands. —Timber on mineral lands may 
be used for agricultural, mining, or other domestic purposes, sub¬ 
ject to the rule's and regulations of the Secretary of the Interior. 

Eight Inch Timber Excepted. —It is unlawful for any per¬ 
son to cut or remove any timber or undergrowth which is less 
than eight inches in diameter, under penalty of a fine not exceed¬ 
ing $5°o, to which may be added imprisonment for any term not 
exceeding six months. 





PART II. 


THE MINING LAWS OF COLORADO. 

Session Lazos, 1874. 

FROM THE GENERAL LAWS, 1877. 


Lode Claims—Length 1500 Feet. 

Sec. 1 8 11. The length of any lode claim here¬ 
after located may equal but not exceed 1 500 feet 
along the vein. See U. S. Stat., Sec. 2320 et seq. 

Width 150 or 300 Feet. 

Sec. 1812. The width of lode claims hereafter 
located in Gilpin, Clear Creek, Boulder and Sum¬ 
mit counties shall be 75 feet on each side of the 
centre of the vein or crevice; and in all other 
counties the width of the same shall be 150 feet on 
each side of the centre of the vein or crevice; 
Provided, That hereafter any county may, at any 
general election, determine upon a greater width, 
not exceeding 300 feet on each side of the centre 
of the vein or lode, by a majority of the legal votes 
cast at said election; and any county, by such vote 
at such election, may determine upon a less width 
than above specified. 




50 


COLORADO LAWS. 


Certificate of Location—Record. 

Sec. 1813. The discoverer of a lode shall, with¬ 
in three months from the date of discovery, record 
his claim in the office of the recorder of the county 
in which such lode is situated by a location cer¬ 
tificate, which shall contain: 1st, the name of the 
lode; 2d, the name of the locator; 3d, the date of 
location; 4th, the number of feet in length claimed 
on each side of the centre of discovery shaft; 5th, 
the general course of the lode as near as may be. 

Essentials. —The first three requirements are essential and 
the omission of any one of them rrfight be fatal to the title. 

(See next section.) 

A Location and Record made prior to the discovery of 

mineral is valid, if followed up by such discovery within ninety 
days. In such case the discovery relates back to the date of loca¬ 
tion. 

Zollar’s & Highland Chief Cons. Mining Co. vs. Seth 
Evans. Oct., 18S0. Col. Law Reporter, Vol. 1, 
p. 217. 

Form of Location Certificate. 

Notice to all Persons is hereby given that- 

-did on the-day of-188—, discover and 

disclose a lode bearing valuable gold and silver minerals, and did, 

within sixty days from said-day of-develop and 

define said lode by a shaft-feet deep (or by a tunnel, cut or 

adit at a depth of-feet) and named it the- Lode $ 

and did on the-day of-18S-, claim and locate upon 

the ground-linear feet in length of the said- 

lode, with-feet in width of surface ground,- 

linear feet of said lode, so located, being-of the centre 

of discovery shaft (tunnel, cut or adit) thereon, and-linear 

feet, being-of the centre of said shaft (tunnel, cut or 




















LODES. 


51 


adit), and-feet in width of said surface being on the 

(easterly) side of the middle of the vein and-feet being. 

on the (westerly) side thereof. 

Said claim is situated in-Mining District in the 

county of-and State of Colorado, and the boundaries 

thereof are as follows, to wit : 

Beginning at (N. W.) cor. No. 1, thence-( 75 °) feet to 

centre stake and (1500) feet to cor. No. 2 ; thence-( 3 °°) 

feet to cor. No. 3 ; thence-( 75 °) feet to centre stake and 

(1500) feet to cor. No. 4 ; thence-( 3 °°) feet to cor. No. 1, 

the place of beginning. 

(Cor. No. 1 should be designated as clearly as possible and tied 
to some well known land mark or corner of a patented claim. 
For further identification the discovery shaft and other corners 
may also be tied to some prominent object.) 

Date of certificate,-. 

Locator,- [seal.] 

Tile Surrey should be made by a competent surveyor. 

Failure to Record Location within three months will not 
render the same invalid, provided the requirements of the law be 
met, before another location on the same ground has been per¬ 
fected. Faxon vs. Barnard etal., Nov. 4, 1880. 

Law Reporter, vol. I, p. 145 

One in Actual Possession having uncovered the .lode, though 
not having recorded the claim as required by law, cannot be 
ousted by a subsequent discoverer, as to the ground actually held. 

A location cannot be extended over a senior discovery in the 
actual possession of another. Same case. 

When Void. 

Sec. 1814. Any location certificate ofa lode claim 
which shall not contain the name of the lode, the 
name of the locator, the date of location, the num¬ 
ber of lineal feet claimed on each side of the dis¬ 
covery shaft, the general course of the lode, and 














52 


COLORADO LAWS. 


such description as shall identify the claim with 
reasonable certainty, shall be void 

Permanent Monument. —The certificate of location is also 
void unless it refers to some natural object or permanent monu¬ 
ment in describing the claim. 

Faxon vs. Barnard et al., above. 

See U. S. Stat. sec. 2324, p. 22. 

Requirements of Location. 

Sec. 1815. Before filing such location certificate, 
the discoverer shall locate his claim by: First — 
sinking a discovery shaft upon the lode to the depth 
of at least ten feet from the lowest part of the rim of 
such shaft at the surface, or deeper, if necessary to 
show a well-defined crevice. Second —by posting 
at the point of discovery on the surface, a plain 
sign or notice containing the name of the lode, the 
name of the locator, and the date of discovery. 
Third —by marking the surface boundaries of the 
claim. 

Middle of Yein. —When the locator does not determine by 
exploration where the middle of the vein at the surface is, his 
discovery shaft must be assumed to mark such point. 

Sickels, p. 528. 

Discovery Shaft .—To constitute a good location, the vein or 
mineral bearing rock must be disclosed in the discovery shaft at a 
depth of ten feet or more. A discovery of mineral after location, 
in another part of the claim, will not avail. 

Van Zandt vs. The Argentine Mining Co. Law Re¬ 
porter, Vol. 1, p. 525, June 16, 1S81. 

Where the discoverer is prevented by an adverse claimant 
from sinking a shaft to the required depth, this does not preju¬ 
dice his right. Erhardt vs. Board, June 20, 1881. 

Law Reporter, p. 497. 


LODES. 


53 


Discovery Stake—Possession. —The discoverer is not re¬ 
quired to remain in personal possession during the entire sixty 
days which the law allows to sink a discovery shaft. The setting 
up of the discovery stake, with the notice thereon as required, is 
equivalent to actual possession for the sixty days. Same case. 

Six Location Stakes. 

Sec. i 8 i6 . Such surface boundaries shall be 
marked by six substantial posts hewed or marked 
on the side or sides which are in toward the claim, 
and sunk in the ground to-wit: one at each corner 
and one at the centre of each side line. Where it 
is practically impossible on account of bed rock to 
sink such posts, they may be placed in a pile of 
stones, and where in marking the surface bounda¬ 
ries of a claim any one or more of such posts shall 
fall by right upon precipitous ground, where the 
proper placing of it is impracticable or dangerous 
to life or limb, it shall be legal and valid to place 
any such post at the nearest practicable point, 
suitably marked to designate the proper place. 

Diagram of Location. 

o--—--o-o 

Location Stake. 

t 

•-■--- - --—- 

Discovery Shaft. Vein 

o—— -—— o-o 

Failure to Keep Stakes in Position. —A claimant is re¬ 
quired to keep his boundary stakes in position, prior to obtaining 
a patent, and should he fail to do so, he will be bound by his 
recorded location. 

Pollard vs. Shively, Sup. Ct. Col., Dec. 7, 1880. Law- 
Reporter, Vol. 1, 230. 





54 


COLORADO LAWS. 


Variance. —If there is a variance between the boundaries as 
staked on the ground and the location certificate, the stakes con¬ 
trol. 

Form of Notice on Stake. 

The-Lode, discovered by-—(Date.) 

Claim 750 feet (northerly) and 750 feet (southerly) from discovery 
shaft (tunnel or cut), by 300 feet in width. 

The Date Of Location is not the date of discovery, but is the 
time when the several acts which constitute a location have been 
performed, viz : when the stakes have been set, the discovery 
notice posted and discovery shaft sunk to the required depth. 

Discovery (rives Title. —The discovery alone gives title for 
the time allowed by law to complete the location and record, and 
after the completion of location and record, the title still relates 
back to the date of discovery. 

So that a title of later record may prevail over one of earlier 
record where the former has the prior discovery. 

Murley vs. Ennis, 2 Colo., p. 300. Patterson vs. Hitch 
cock, 3 Colo., 538. 

For this reason the Location Certificate and the Discovery 
Notice should give the date of discovery. 

Open Cuts and Tunnel Discoveries. 

Adits. 

Sec. 1817. Any open cut, cross-cut or tunnel 
which shall cut a lode at the depth of ten feet be¬ 
low the surface, shall hold such lode, the same as 
if a discovery shaft were sunk thereon, or an adit 
of at least ten feet in along the lode, from the point 
where the lode may be in any manner discovered, 
shall be equivalent to a discovery shaft. 

Adit Defined •—An Adit is a horizontal drift or passage into a 
mine. 




LODES AND PLACERS. 


55 


Sixty Days to Sink Discovery Shaft. 

Sec. 1818. The discoverer shall have sixty 
days from the time of uncovering or disclosing a 
lode to sink a discovery shaft thereon. 

Construction of Certificate. 

Sec. 1819. The location, or location certificate 
of any lode claim shall be construed to include all 
surface ground within the surface lines thereof, and 
all lodes and ledges throughout their entire depth, 
the top or apex of which lie inside of such lines 
extended downward, vertically, with such parts of 
all lodes or ledges as continue by dip beyond the 
side lines of the claim, but shall not include any 
portion of such lodes or ledges beyond the end 
lines of the claim, or the end lines continued, 
whether by dip or otherwise, or beyond the side 
lines in any other manner than by the dip of the 
lode. See U. S. Stat., 2320. 

End Lines. 

Sec. 1820. If the top or apex of a lode in its 
longitudinal course extends beyond the exterior 
lines of the claim at any point on the,surface, or as 
extended vertically downward, such lode may not 
be followed in its longitudinal course beyond the 
point where it is intersected by the exterior lines. 

Easements. 

Sec. 1821. All mining claims now located, or 
which may be hereafter located, shall be subject to 


56 


COLORADO LAWS. 


the right of way of any ditch or flume for mining 
purposes, or of any tramway or pack-trail, whether 
now in use or which may be hereafter laid out 
across any such location; provided, always , that 
such right of way shall not be exercised against 
any location duly made and recorded, and not 
abandoned prior to the establishment of the ditch, 
flume, tramway, or pack-trail, without consent of 
the owner, except by condemnation as in case of 
land taken for public highways. Parol consent to 
the location of any such easement, accompanied by 
the completion of the same over the claim, shall be 
sufficient without writings; and provided further , 
that such ditch or flume shall be so constructed 
that the water from such ditch or flume shall not 
injure vested rights by flooding or otherwise. 

Mining Under Surface Improvement. 

Sec. 1822. When the right to mine is in any 
case separate from the ownership or right of 
occupancy to the surface, the owner or rightful 
occupant of the surface may demand satisfactory 
security from the miner, and if it be refused may 
enjoin such miner from working until such security 
is given. The order for injunction shall fix the 
amount of bond. 

Relocation of His Own Claim by Owner. 

Sec. 1823. If at any time the locator of any 
mining claim heretofore or hereafter located, or his 
assigns, shall apprehend that his original certificate 


LODES AND PLACERS. 


57 


was defective, erroneous, or that the requirements 
of the law had not been complied with before filing, 
or shall be desirous of changing his surface bounda¬ 
ries, or of taking in any part of an overlapping 
claim which has been abandoned, or in case the 
original certificate was made prior to the passage 
of this law, and he shall be desirous of securing 
the benefits of this act, such locator, or his assigns, 
may file an additional certificate, subject to the 
provisions of this act. Provided , that such reloca¬ 
tion does not interfere with the existing rights of 
others at the time of such relocation, and no such 
relocation, or other record thereof, shall preclude 
the claimant or claimants from proving any such 
title or titles as he or they may have held under 
previous location. 

Old Locations. —Old claims of 3,000 feet in length may be 
relocated,, but are limited to 1,500 feet, when the additional width 
allowed by the present law is taken. 

Annual Affidavit of Labor. 

Sec. 1824. Within six months after any set 
time or annual period allowed for the performance 
of labor, or making improvements upon any lode 
claim, the person on whose behalf such outlay was* 
made, or some person for him, shall make and 
record an affidavit in substance as follows: 

State of Colorado, j 
-County. j 

Before me, the subscriber, personally appeared, 
-, who, being duly sworn, saith, that at least 

6 




58 


COLORADO LAWS. 


-— dollars’ worth of work or improve¬ 
ments were performed or made upon (here describe 

claim or part of claim), situate in-Mining 

District, County of-, State of Colorado. 

Such expenditure was_ made by or at the expense 

of-, owners of said claim, for the purpose of 

holding said claim. 

[Jurat.] Signature. 

And such signature-shall be prima facie evidence 
of the performance of such labor. 

Relocation of Abandoned Claims. 

Sec. 1825. The relocation of abandoned lode 
claims shall be by sinking a new discovery shaft 
and fixing new boundaries in the same manner as 
if it were the- location of a new claim; or the relo¬ 
cator may sink the original discovery shaft ten feet 
deeper than it was at the time of abandonment, and 
erect new, or adopt the old boundaries, renewing 
the posts if removed or destroyed. In either case 
a new location stake shall be erected. In any case, 
whether the whole or part of an abandoned claim 
is taken, the location certificate may state that the 
Vhole or any part of the new location is located as 
abandoned property. 

It is always safer to sink a new discovery shaft and to fix new 
boundaries. 

What is ail Abandonment. —Abandonment is a question of 
intention. But practically the question generally turns upon the 
neglect to do the annual labor as prescribed by the statute. 






PLACERS. 


59 


One Certificate for Each Claim. 

Sec. 1826. No location certificate shall claim 
more than one location, whether the location be 
made by one or several locators. And if it purport 
to claim more than one location it shall be abso¬ 
lutely void, except as to the first location therein 
described, and if they are described together, or so 
that it cannot be told which location is first de¬ 
scribed, the certificate shall be void as to all. 


TUNNELS—RECORD. 

Sec. 1800. If any person or persons shall 
locate a tunnel claim, for the purpose of discovery 
he shall record the same, specifying the place of 
commencement and termination thereof, with the 
names of the parties interested therein.-iVtfZ'. 7, 1861. 

See U. S. Stat., 2323. 


PLACERS. 

An Act relating to location and representation of placer mining 

claims. Act of 1879. 

Location Certificate—Record. 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State 
of Colorado: Sec. i. The discoverer of a placer 
claim shall, within thirty days from the date of dis¬ 
covery, record his claim in the office of the recorder 
of the county in which said claim is situated, by a 
a location certificate, which shall contain: First , the 




6o 


COLORADO LAWS. 


name of the claim, designating it as a placer claim. 
Second, the name of the locator. Third, the date 
of location. Fourth, the number of acres or feet 
claimed. And fifth, a description of the claim by 
such reference to natural objects or permanent mon¬ 
uments as shall identify the claim. 

Before filing such location certificate, the discov¬ 
erer shall locate his claim : First, by posting upon 
such claim a plain sign or notice, containing the 
name of the claim, the name of the locator, the 
date of discovery and the number of acres or feet 
claimed. Second, by marking the surface bounda¬ 
ries with substantial posts, and sunk in the ground, 
to-wit: One at each angle of the claim. 

Annual Labor—Co-owner. 

Sec. 2. On each placer claim of one hundred 
Imd sixty acres or more heretofore or hereafter 
located, and until a patent has been issued therefor, 
not less than one hundred dollars’ worth of labor 
shall be performed or improvements made by the 
first day of August, 1879, an< ^ by the first day of 
August of each year thereafter. On all placer 
claims containing less than one hundred and sixty 
acres, the expenditure during each year shall be 
such proportion of one hundred dollars as the 
number of acres bears to one hundred and sixty. 
On all placer claims containing less than twenty 
acres, the expenditures during each year shall not 
be less than twelve dollars ; but when two or more 
claims lie contiguous and are owned by the same 


PLACERS. 


61 


person, the expenditure hereby required for each 
claim may be made on any one claim; and upon a 
failure to comply with these conditions, the claim 
or claims upon which such failure occurred, shall 
be open to relocation, in the same manner as if no 
location of the same had ever been made; provided , 
that the original locators, their heirs, assigns or 
legal representatives, have not resumed work upon 
the claim after failure and before such location ; 
provided , the aforesaid expenditures may be made 
in building or repairing ditches to conduct water 
upon such ground, or in making other mining 
improvements necessary for the working of such 
claim. 

Upon the failure of any one of several co-owners 
to contribute his proportion of the expenditures 
required hereby, the co-owners who have performed 
the labor or made the improvements, may at the 
expiration of the year, to-wit: the first of August, 
1879, for the locations heretofore made, and one year 
from the date of locations hereafter made, give such 
delinquent co-owner personal notice in writing, or 
if he be a non-resident of the State, a notice by 
publication in the newspaper published nearest the 
claim for at least once a week for ninety days, and 
mailing him a copy of such newspaper if his 
address be known, and if at the expiration of ninety 
days after such notice in writing, or after the first 
publication of such notice, such delinquent should 
fail or refuse to contribute his proportion of the 


62 


COLORADO LAWS. 


expenditure required by this section, his interest 
in the claim shall become the property of his co¬ 
owners who have made the required expenditures. 

See U. S. Stat. 2329. 

Location Of Placers. —The requirements with respect to pla¬ 
cer locations are similar to those of lode claims. 

The principal points of difference are : 

First —No discovery shaft is required. 

Second —The location must be completed within thirty instead 
of three months. 

Third —Where the claim or claims embrace less than 160 acres, 
the amount of annual labor, which'the law requires, is less than 
$100 per year, and only such proportion thereof as the number of 
acres of the claim bears to $100. 

Fourth —Where placer claims are contiguous and belong to the 
same owner, the annual expenditure for all of such claims may 
be made upon any one claim. 

Form of Location Notice. 

The- Placer Claim - — acres (or feet) as staked 

on this ground; 

The Location Certificate is similar to that of a lode claim. 

See Colo. Stat. 1813, (Lodes.) 

Flumes ami Pitches. —The state law provides that corpora¬ 
tions organized under the laws of Colorado for constructing ditches 
or flumes, must commence work within 90 days from the date of 
their certificate of incorporation, use due diligence and complete 
the same within two years from the tune of commencement, or for¬ 
feit all right to the water so claimed. 

See Col. Stat. 274, (General Laws.) 

Of Individuals. —Upon the requirements of individuals in 
that respect, the law is silent, but by analogy, they would be the 
same as for corporations. 




CORRECTIONS. 


Page 62, 8th line, read thirty Days. 

Page 62,18th line, add Date -- 

Locator-, to Notice of Location. 


, and 







EASEMENTS. 


63 

Form of Notice. 

(To be posted on the stream from which water is to be taken.) 

I hereby claim 50 inches of water in the-river (creek 

or gulch) to be taken by ditch from this point to the-- 

placer claim. 

Dated- 

Locator - - 

Record. —The location must be followed up by record of a 
declaration of occupation, according to the form given in section 
212$ of the General Laws. 

Private Lands cannot be crossed by ditch locators without 
the consent of the owner, or else condemnation proceedings under 
the State laws. See Col. Stat., 1821. (Lodes and Placers.) 

Water Rights—Easements. 

Right of Way. 

Sec. 1798. Whenever any person or persons 
are engaged in bringing water into any portion 
of the mines, they shall have the right of way 
secured to them, and may pass over any claim, 
road, ditch, or other structure, provided, the water 
be guarded so as not to interfere with prior rights. 

Sec. 1821. All mining claims now located or 
which may be hereafter located, shall be subject 
to the right of way of any ditch or flume for mining 
purposes, or of any tramway or pack-trail, whether 
now in use or which may be hereafter laid out 
across any such location; provided , always , that 
such right of way shall not be exercised against 
any location dulv made and recorded, and not 
abandoned prior to the establishment of the ditch, 
flume, tramway or pack trail, without consent of 







64 


COLORADO LAWS. 


the owner, except by condemnation as in case of 
land taken for public highways. Parol consent to 
the location of any such easement, accompanied by 
the completion of the same over the claim, shall 
be sufficient without writings; and provided further, 
that such ditch or flume shall be so constructed 
that the water from such ditch or flume shall not 
injure vested rights by flooding or otherwise. 

Tailings. 

Sec. 1804. In no case shall any person or 
persons be allowed to flood the property of another 
person with water, or wash down the tailings of 
his or their sluice upon the claim or property of 
other persons, but it shall be the duty of every 
miner to take care of his own tailings, upon his 
own property, or become responsible for all dam¬ 
ages that may arise therefrom. 

Sec. 1805. Every miner shall have the right 
of way across any and all claims for the purpose of 
hauling quartz from his claim.— Nov. 7, 1861. 

See U. S. Stat., 2338, et seq. 


MISCELLANEOUS LAWS (COLORADO). 

Taxation—Constitutional Exemption of Mines. 

Mines and mining claims bearing gold, silver 
and other precious metals (except the net proceeds 
and surface improvements thereof,) shall be exempt 



MISCELLANEOUS. 


65 


from taxation for the period of ten years from the 
date of the adoption of this constitution (July 1, 
1876,) and thereafter may be taxed as provided by 
law. Art. 10, Sec. 3, Colo. Const. 

Net Proceeds not Taxable.— Judge Helm of the Fourth 
Judicial District of Colorado, has decided that the proviso for 
taxing the “ net proceeds” of mines, is nugatory, because neither 
the constitution nor the legislature have provided any machinery 
for making the provision operative : 

“ There is nothing in this section or any other constitutional 
provision which indicates how this or any other species of property 
shall be listed or assessed for taxation, or how the tax shall be 
levied or collected thereon. On the contrary it expressly says 
these things shall be done by “general laws which shall prescribe 
such regulations” as may be necessary to “ secure a just valua¬ 
tion of all property.” It cannot be claimed that the constitution 
is self-enforcing on this subject. If it is self-enforcing as to the 
net proceeds of the mine, it is also self-enforcing as to all other 
species of property ; and our revenue act contains a large number 
of sections that are superfluous and might be expunged. 

If this provision is not self-enforcing as to net proceeds of 
mines, what machinery has the Legislature provided to meet the 
emergency ? 

There is certainly nothing in the statutes distinguishing this, 
so far as the assessment, levy and collection of taxes thereon are 
concerned, from other species of property. The statute simply re¬ 
enacts the constitutional provision, and goes no further. If, then, 
taxes can be collected at present on the net proceeds of mines, the 
assessment must be made and the taxes must be levied and collected 
under and by virtue of the general provisions of these subjects in 
the revenue act. 

Xhis act provides that “all personal property shall be listed in 
the county where it shall be on the first day of May on the then 
current year.” General Laws, sec. 2248. 

The proceeds of a mine are accruing from day to day during 
the year. From time to time, if there be an excess after deduct- 


66 


COLORADO LAWS. 


ing expenses, that excess is paid over to the owners or to stock 
holders as dividends ; the net proceeds, if the mine be fortunate 
enough to have any, are almost always disbursed and distributed 
as rapidly as they accrue, so that on the first day of May or on any 
other given day, the net proceeds in a particular county would be 
but a small fraction of the aggregate net proceeds for the year 
previous. It needs no argument or illustration to demonstrate 
that the assessment of the net proceeds of mines under this sec¬ 
tion would be a farce. Of the small proportion that would 
otherwise be on hand in a given county on the first day of May, 
how much would be there on the succeeding anniversaries of that 
day after the first successful attempt to assess the mining proceeds 
of such county, under the above provisions ? I am not sure that 
the attempt to apply this section to the proceeds of mines, would 
be obnoxious to the constitution. For the statute would then prac¬ 
tically amount to the exemption law.” 

See State vs. •Krut’tschnitt, 4 Nevada, 200. 

Law of Possession. 

Sec. 2131. Any person settled upon any of 
the public lands belonging to the United States 
may maintain trespass quare clausum fregit , tres¬ 
pass, ejectment, forcible entry and detainer, unlaw¬ 
ful detainer and forcible detainer, for injuries done 
to the possession thereof.— Nov. 7, 1861. 

Mining Claims, Real Estate. 

Sec. 185. The terms “land” and “real es¬ 
tate,” as used in this chapter, shall be construed 
as co-extensive in meaning with the terms “ lands, 
tenements, hereditaments,” and as embracing min¬ 
ing claims and other claims, and chattels real. 
The term “deed” includes mortgages, leases, 
releases, and every conveyance or incumbrance 
under seal.— Nov. 7, 1861. 


MISCELLANEOUS. 


67 


Transferable. 

Sec. 2126. The owner of every claim, or 
improvement on every tract or parcel of land, has 
a transferable interest therein, which may be sold 
in execution or otherwise; and any sale of such 
improvement is a sufficient consideration to sustain 
a promise.— Nov. 7, 1861. 

Mining District Rules. 

Sec. 2127. All rights of occupancy, posses¬ 
sion and enjoyment of any tract or portion of the 
said public domain, acquired before the 7th day of 
November, A. D. 1861, shall be ascertained, ad¬ 
judged and determined by the local law of the 
district or precinct in which such tract is situated, 
as it existed on the day when such rights were ac¬ 
quired, or as it thereafter may have existed; and 
if there were no laws at that time, then by the 
common custom then prevailing in respect to such 
property in the district or precinct in which it ex¬ 
isted. All such rights of occupancy, possession 
and enjoyment, acquired since the said 7th day 
of November, A. D*. 1861, shall be ascertained, 
adjudged and determined by the laws of this State 
in force at the date of such acquisition .—From Acts 
of 1861 and 1868. 

Evidence. 

Sec. 386. The Colorado Code of Civil Procedure 
provides: In actions respecting mining claims, 

proof shall be admitted of the customs, usages and 


68 


COLORADO LAWS. 


regulations, established and in force in the mining 
districts embracing such claim; and such customs, 
usages and regulations, when not in conflict with 
the laws of this state, or of the United States, shall 
govern the decision of the action. 

Record. ( 

Sec. 1807. A copy of all the records, laws 
and proceedings of each mining district, so far as 
they relate to lode claims, shall be filed in the office 
of the County Clerk of the county in which the 
district is situated, within the boundaries of the 
district attached to the same, which shall be taken 
as evidence in any court having jurisdiction in the 
matters concerned in such record or proceedings; 
and all such records of deeds and conveyances, 
laws and proceedings of any mining district, here¬ 
tofore filed in the Clerk’s office of the proper county, 
and transcripts thereof, duly certified, whether such 
record relate to gulch claims, lode claims, building 
lots, or other real estate, shall have the like effect 
as evidence.— 1868. 

U. S. Title Paramount. 

Sec. 2146. Nothing in this chapter contained 
shall be construed to deny the right of the 
United States to dispose of any lands in this state; 
nor shall the fact that the title to any lots, lands, 
lodes or mining claims hath not passed from the 
United States, be any bar to the recovery of the 
plaintiff in either of the actions specified in section 


MISCELLANEOUS. 


69 


eight of this chapter. As against the tJnited 
States, and all persons holding any of said lands 
under the United States, or the laws thereof, this 
chapter shall be of non-effect and void.— Nov. 7, 
1861. See Sec. 2131, p. 66 ante. 

Mining Under Surface Improvements. 

Sec. 1799. No person shall have the right 
to mine under any building or other improvement, 
unless he shall first secure the parties owning the 
same against all damages, except by priority of 
right.— Nov. 7, 1861. 

Interference of Claims. 

Sec. 1802. When it shall appear that one 
lode crosses, runs into, or unites with any other 
lode, the priority of record shall determine the 
rights of claimants; provided , that in no case where 
it appears that two lodes have crossed one another, 
shall the priority of record give any person the 
privilege of turning off from the crevice or lode 
which continues in the same direction of the main 
lode upon which he or they may have recorded 
their claim or claims, but such person or persons 
shall, at all times, follow the crevice running near¬ 
est in the general direction of the main lode upon 
which he or they may have recorded their claim or 
claims. 

Sec. 1803. Where two crevices are discovered 
at a distance from each other, and known by 
different names, and it shall appear that the two 


7 


70 


COLORADO LAWS. 


are one and the same lode, the persons having re¬ 
corded on the first discovered lode shall be the legal 
owners.— Nov. 7, 1861. See U. S. Stat., Sec. 2336. 


MINERS’ LIEN. 

Abridged from the Act approved February 12 , 1881. 

Sec. 7. Ill What Cases Allowed. —Miners, laborers and others 
who do work or labor to the amount of twenty-five dollars upon 
any mi^e, lode or deposit, under a contract, express or implied, 
with the owner, or his agent, and. all persons who shall furnish 
any timber or other materials to the amount of twenty-five dollars 
or more for use in such mine, lode or deposit, shall have a lien 
upon the property for the amount of work done or materials fur¬ 
nished, by filing in the county clerk and recorder’s office within 
forty days after the last labor was performed or materials furnished, 
a statement as required by section 2 of the act. 

Sec. 4. Sub-Contractor. —Every sub-contractor, mechanic, 
laborer and material-man is entitled to a similar lien upon serving 
a notice upon the owner or his agent in the afternoon of the Sat- 
urday next following the performance of the work or furnishing 
the materials, and also recording a notice of his claim within 
forty days after the last labor was performed or materials furnished 
as in case of a contractor. 

A Similar Lien is allowed for work done or materials furn¬ 
ished for any tramway, canal, ditch, flume, aqueduct or reservoir. 

A Contractor is one who is employed directly by the owner. 

A Sftb-Contractor is one employed by a contractor. 

Limitation. —The lien must be enforced by commencing suit 
within six months after record. 

Sec. 11. When Lien Attaches. —All such liens shall relate 
back to the commencement of the work or labor or furnishing of 
materials by the claimant, and shall have priority over any and 
every lien or incumbrance subsequently intervening, and of all 
prior incumbrances, of which the lienor had no notice. 



PENAL LAWS. 


” 71 

Sec. 13. Other Remedies not Barred.— The remedy given 
by this act shall be no bar to any other remedy which the claimant 
would otherwise have. ♦ 

> 

Sec. 16. Surveyors. —The act applies to surveyors for sur- 
veying and platting any mines, lodes or mineral deposits. 


PENAL LAWS. 

Abridged. 

There are certain penal provisions in the General Laws respect¬ 
ing mines and mining claims which are cited below, the offence 
and the penalty attaching being given. For the full text of the 
law, see sections cited. 

Sec. 764. Using' Fraudulent Scales for Weighing Bold 
or Bold Bust, Penalty : Fine not exceeding $500 or con¬ 
finement in county jail not exceeding six months. 

Sec. 765. Keeping Proceeds of Ore by Owner or Agent 
of Millowner and above proper charges : Fine not exceed¬ 
ing $1000 or imprisonment in penitentiary not exceeding one year. 

Sec. 776. Salting Ore. —Fine $500 to $1,000 or imprison¬ 
ment for one to fourteen years, or both. 

Sec. 1828. Jumping Claims by Stealth or Violence, 
Threats, Ac. —Fine not exceeding $250, or thirty days in county 
jail. In such case possession may be recovered by a Mandatory 
Writ, under Section 1361 of the General Laws. 

Sec. 1829. Homicide by Those so Trespassing is murder 
in the first degree, and is punished accordingly. And any person 
who is present aiding and abetting, or who encourages such entry 
by promise of money, or other thing of value, shall be deemed a 
principal in the commission of the offense. 

Sec. 1603. Removing or Defacing Location Marks.— 
Fine not exceeding$1,000 or imprisonment not exceeding one year. 

This law does not apply to abandoned claims. 

Sec. 1962. Keeping Fraudulent Mill Scales. —Fine $100 

to $r,ooo, or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both. 


72 


COLORADO LAWS. 


Sec. 1963. Erandnlent Undervaluation of Ores.— Fine 
not exceeding $1,000, nor less than $100, or imprisonment not 
more than one year, or both. 


ORE BUYERS. 

(.Abridged from General Laws.) 

Sec. 1957. Shall keep an Entry Book. —Every person, 
association, or corporation that shall be engaged in the business 
of milling, sampling, concentrating, reducing, shipping, or purchas¬ 
ing ores in the State of Colorado, shall keep and preserve a book, 
in which shall be entered at the time of the delivery of each lot 
of ore : » 

First .—The name of the party on whose behalf such ore is 
delivered as stated. 

Second .—The name of the teamster, packer, or other person 
actually delivering such ore, and the name of the owner of the 
team, or pack train delivering such ore. 

Third .—The weight or amount of every such lot of ore. 

Fourth .—The name and location of the mine or claim from 
which it shall be stated that the same has been mined or procured. 

Fifth .—The date of delivery of any and all lots or parcels of 
ore. 

Section 2 provides that the owner of or in any mine, upon 
making affidavit that ore has been stolen from him by any 
ore buyer, shall have access to the books of the latter and may 
examine all entries made during the fifteen days preceding the 
making of said affidavit. 

Penalties. —Sections 3 and 4 of the act provide a penalty of 
not less than fifty, nor more than three hundred dollars for a vio¬ 
lation of the preceding sections,—to be collected on action of 
debt. 


FRAUDULENT CONVEYANCES. 

Sec. 766- Any person or persons, who, after once selling, 
bartering or disposing of any tract or tracts of land, town lot 
or lots, or executing any bond or agreement for the sale of any 



CORPORATIONS. 


73 


lands or town lot or lots, shall again knowingly and fraudulently 
sell, barter or dispose of the same tract or tracts of land or town 
lot or lots or any parts thereof, or shall knowingly and fraud¬ 
ulently execute^ any bond or agreement to sell or barter or dis¬ 
pose of the same land or lot or lots, or any part thereof to any 
other person or persons, for a valuable consideration, every such 
offender, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by confine¬ 
ment in the penitentiary for a term not less than one year nor 
more than ten years. Col. Stat. 


STOCK COMPANIES. 

Objects. —The principal objects of stock companies for mining 
purposes are, 

First. To facilitate the transfer of small interests in the prop¬ 
erty of the company, and place the property upon the market. 

Second. To place the management of the property in the hands 
of a board of directors, thus avoiding all partnership difficulties. 

Stock companies are formed in Colorado in pursuance of the 
provisions of Chapter XIX of the General Laws-. 

[The following provisions which are abridged from the Statute, 
relate to corporations formed for pecuniary profit.] 

There must be a corporate or company name. 

Certificate required. —The company must be composed of 
not less than three persons, who shall sign and acknowledge before 
the proper officer a certificate, stating : 

The corporate name of said company. 

The objects of the company. 

The amount of capital stock. 

The term of existence, not to exceed twenty years. 

The number of shares of stock. 

The number of directors or trustees. 

Names of officers for first year. 

Name of town and county where the principal office shall be 
kept. 


74 


COLORADO LAWS. 


Name of county or counties in which the principal business 
shall be carried on. 

They shall make as many of these certificates as may be neces¬ 
sary, and one shall be filed in the office of the recorder of deeds 
in such county, or each of such counties, and one in the office of 
the Secretary of State. 

And in case part of the business of the company is to be car¬ 
ried on in another state, the certificate shall state the fact, together 
with the name of the town and county in which the principal 
office is kept in this state. 

No certificate will be filed or received where there is a prior 
one bearing the same name. 

Powers and Liabilities. —Corporations may in any court in 
this State sue and be sued. 

May have a common seal. 

May own, possess and enjoy so much real and personal estate 
us shall be necessary for the transaction of their business. 

May borrow money and pledge for their franchises and property 
both real and personal, to secure the payment thereof ; 

And may exercise all the powers necessary and requisite to 
carry into effect the object for which they may be formed, as 
named in their certificate of incorporation. 

* Tile Shares of Stock shall not be less than ten, nor more 
than one hundred dollars each. 

Stock is Personal Property and is transferable as such in 
the manner provided in the by-laws. 

The Corporate Powers shall be exercised by a board of 
directors or trustees of not less than three nor more than thirteen, 
who shall be-stockholders in said company ; and who shall, after 
the first year, be elected annually by the stockholders in manner 
prescribed in the by-laws. 

Officers. —The directors or trustees shall elect one of their 
number to be president, and may elect or appoint such subordi¬ 
nate officers, as the Company may by its by-laws designate. Such 
officers may be required to give security for the faithful discharge 
of their official duties. The officers are, usually, president, vice 
president, secretary and treasurer, and superintendent. * 


CORPORATIONS. 


75 


The By-Laws are made by the directors. 

Prohibition. —Corporations are prohibited from purchasing 
stock in their own company with the funds of the company. 

Liability of Stockholders. —Stockholders are liable for the 
debts of the corporation only to the extent of the unpaid stock 
held by them. 

Certificate of Stock Paid. —When the capital stock has been 
fully paid, the president and a majority of the directors or trustees 
shall within sixty days of the payment of the last installment 
make a sworn certificate of the fact and record the same in the 
office of the secretary of state and upon the county records in the 
county where the business of the company is transacted. 

Stockholders to have Access to Books.— It is the duty of 
the company to keep correct books of account of all its business 
and any stockholder shall have the right at any reasonable time to 
examine all the books, accounts and papers of the company upon 
demand in writing of any officer, clerk, cashier or agent of the 
corporation. 

Refusal.— In case of refusal by such officer or agent, he shall 
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and be liable to a penalty of 
$200. 

Stock Issued in Payment of Property. —The directors or 
trustees may issue stock inpayment of the property of the com¬ 
pany, and the stock so issued shall be declared to be full paid and 
non-assessable. 

A Complete Report of the business and status of the com¬ 
pany, verified by the oath of the president or secretary is required 
to be filed annually. 

Fraudulent Dividends. —If the officers of a company declare 
a dividend when such company is insolvent or which would dimin¬ 
ish th§ amount of its capital stock, all the officers assenting 
thereto shall be liable for all debts of the company then existing, 
and for all that shall be contracted thereafter while the capital 
remains so diminished. 

Misrepresentation by Officers. —The officers of the com¬ 
pany are personally liable in damages for any material misrepresenta- 


j6 


COLORADO LAWS. 


tion in any certified report or statement, or public notice, concern¬ 
ing the affairs of the company. 

Foreign Corporations. —Before they will be permitted to do 
any business in this state they are required to file a certificate 
signed by the president and secretary of the company, with the 
secretary of state and with the recorder of the county where the 
business is to be carried on, designating the principal place of 
business in this state and naming an authorized agent at said place 
cf business upon whom process may be served. And such cor¬ 
poration shall be subject to the same regulations which are im¬ 
posed upon corporations of like character organized under the 
laws of this state. Foreign corporations are also required to file 
with the secretary of state a copy of their charter of incorporation, 
or in case such company is incorporated by certificate under any 
general incorporation law, a copy of such certificate and of such 
general incorporation law duly certified and authenticated by the 
proper authprity of such foreign state. 

Failure to comply with the foregoing requirements renders the 
officers of such company personally liable on all contracts made 
within this state. 

Stockholders May Demand Statement. — The owner or 
owners of 15 per cent, of the capital stock may at any time, by 
request in writing, call upon the secretary, cashier or treasurer of 
the company for a statement in detail of the affairs of such cor¬ 
poration, which statement shall be rendered within twenty days 
from presentation of such request, and a copy thereof kept on file 
in the office of the company for six months for the inspection of 
all stockholders. 

Requirements of Secretary. —The secretary of the company 
is required to keep a book containing a list of names of all stock¬ 
holders, alphabetically arranged, showing their place of residence, 
number of shares held by each, when bought, when transferred, 
amount paid, etc, which book shall be open to inspection by 
stockholders and creditors, and all transfers of stock, to be 
valid, must be entered in said book within sixty days from the 
date of said transfer, by an entry showing to and from whom 
transferred. 


CORPORATIONS. 


77 


An Act 

To Permit Domestic Corporations doing Business in Other States 
to Accept the Laws of Other States and Territories .—Session 
Laws , 1881. 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State 
of Colorado: Section i. It shall and may be law¬ 
ful for any corporation created or existing under 
the laws of this state for the purpose, among others, 
of exercising its franchises or carrying on part of 
its business beyond the limits of this state, and in 
another state or territory of the United States or 
elsewhere, to accept any law of such other state or 
territory of the United States, or foreign state and 
government, and to exercise within the territory of 
such other state or territory, or foreign state and 
government, all such authorities, powers,privileges, 
rights and franchises as may be, by such laws con¬ 
ferred, subject to such duties, liabilities, and restric¬ 
tions as may by such laws be imposed. 

Approved February g, 188 /. 

Mining Companies. 

' Sec. 283. Two Classes of Stock. —The certificate of in¬ 
corporation of any mining company shall contain a statement 
that the stock of such company is either assessable or non-assessa- 
ble, and each certificate of stock issued by any such company 
shall have plainly printed on the face thereof the word "assessa¬ 
ble” or “ non-assessable as the case may be. 

STOCK ISSUED IN PAYMENT OF PROPERTY. 

Sec. 284. Any mining company, organized under the provi¬ 
sions of this act, may, for the purpose of purchasing mining prop¬ 
erty, and providing a capital for carrying on the business of the 


78 


CORPORATIONS. 


company, issue full paid stock in payment of the same, which 
shall be non-assessable, until the balance or whole amount of the 
capital stock shall have been assessed to the par value thereof and 
fully paid, after which the stock shall all be equally and ratably 
liable to assessment for the operations of the company ; provided, 
however , any company may issue all its stock assessable or non¬ 
assessable, but no company shall issue both assessable and non¬ 
assessable stock, except as provided in this section. 

Sec. 285. Assessable Stock, how .assessed.— In the case 
of assessable stock, when the board of directors shall deem it 
necessary that an assessment be made, they shall call a meeting of 
the stockholders, giving due notice by publication, as required by 
the statute, and if at such meeting the stockholders representing a 
majority of the stock shall vote in favor of the assessment, the 
directors shall levy the same. But this cannot be done oftener 
than once in three months ; and no single assessment shall be 
greater than 5 per cent, of the par value of the stock, and shall 
not be payable in less than 30 days from the date of such assess¬ 
ment. 

Sec. 286. Sale of Delinquent Stock. —If the assessment 
shall remain due and unpaid for 15 days after the same shall be 
due, the shares on which it is due become delinquent, and may be 
advertised and sold at public auction in not less than 60 days from 
the date the assessment was made, unless the same shall be 
redeemed before sale by payment of the amount assessed with 
interest and all costs of advertising. 

Sec. 287. Directors. —The affairs of the company shall be 
managed by not less than three nor more than nine directors, who 
shall respectively be stockholders, and who shall, except the first 
year, be annually elected by the stockholders at such time and 
place as the by-laws provide. 

Consolidating 1 . —Mining companies may be consolidated un¬ 
der one organization as provided by Sec. 315. 


PA’RT III. 


4 


CONVEYANCES. 

Mining claims are conveyed, mortgaged, etc., in the same man¬ 
ner as other real estate. 

See Col. Laws, (miscellaneous,) Secs. 185 and 2126. 

But the grantor should not enter into full covenants of war¬ 
ranty, because, until the granting of a patent, the paramount title 
remains with the United States. But the grantor may warrant 
his title in so far as the title to a mining claim admits of a war¬ 
ranty ; that is, he may warrant his exclusive right to the ‘ ‘ posses¬ 
sion and enjoyment '’ of the claim, by virtue of his compliance 
with the mining laws. 

The law implies such warranty from the operative words of the 
common mining deed. 

The following is the form : 

Mining Deed—(Lode Claim.) 

Tills Indenture, made this-day of-in the year of 

our Lord one thousand eight hundred and-between 

-of the county of-state of -*— party 

of the first part and-of the same place, party of the 

second part, 

Witnessetll : That the said party of the first part for and in 

consideration of the sum of-dollars to him in hand 

paid by the said party of the second part, the receipt whereof is 
hereby acknowledged, hath granted, bargained and sold, and by 
these presents doth grant, bargain, sell and convey unto the said 
party of the second part, his heirs and assigns, all the following 
described real estate, situate in the county of-and state 

0 f-to w it ; 

The *-lode mining claim in-mining 

district, as located and recorded by- 
















8o 


CONVEYANCES. 


For fuller description of said claim reference is hereby made 

to the location certificate thereof, recorded in book -on page 

-of the records of said county. • 

Together wit'll all and sing ular the lodes and veins within the 
lines of said claims, with the dips, spurs, mines minerals ease¬ 
ments, mining fixtures, improvements, rights, privileges and ap¬ 
purtenances thereunto in anywise belonging ; 

To have and to hold the lands, tenements and hereditaments 
hereby conveyed unto the said party of the second part, his heirs 
and assigns forever. 

Ill witness whereof the said party of the first part hath here¬ 
unto set his hand and seal, this-day of-A. D.-. 

-[Seal.] 

A notary’s certificate of acknowledgement should be attached. 

The Operative Words of the deed are “grant, bargain, sell 
and convey.” 

In a quit-claim deed the operative words are “remise, release 
and quit-claim.” 

Description. —It is not customary to describe a mining claim by 
metes and bounds, except in the location certificate. In describ¬ 
ing a lode claim in a deed, the essential points are, the Name of 
the Claim, the Mining District, County and State. 

To further identify the claim, may be stated the number of feet 

in length and width, and course of the vein, the name of the 

mountain, hill or gulch, and relative position of the claim thereon 

«• 

and name of the locator or locators, and reference may be made to 
the location certificate. 

Conveyance not in Writing. 

A mining claim may also be conveyed by transfer of the pos¬ 
session thereof without any writing. 

Mining Co. vs. Taylor, io Otto, p. 37. 

In conveying Patented Claims the number of the survey lot 
should also be stated. 

Placer Claims are described and conveyed in a similar man¬ 


ner. 








CONVEYANCES. 


8 I 


Contracts relating to the title of real estate should always be 
in writing. Verbal contracts are not binding unless accompanied 
by part performance. 

Consideration. —The consideration of a deed or other instru¬ 
ment in writing cannot be denied or varied for the purpose of 
avoiding the same. For the purpose of recovering the considera¬ 
tion money it can be, but not for the purpose of destroying the 
effect and operation of the deed. 

Brown vs. State of Colorado, Law Reporter Vol. I, p. 394. 

Mining* Bond. —A common form of conveyance heretofore 
has been the “ Mining Bond,” the purpose of which is to give the 
obligee, or purchaser, time to effect a sale or test the merits of a 
property with the privilege of buying the same within the time, 
and at a price named in the bond. But the Supreme Court of 
Colorado has held that such a bond, where no consideration is 
expressed, lacks the elements of a binding contract for want of 
mutuality, since one party binds himself to sell, but the other is 
not bound to buy. 

“Its legal effect is that of a continuing offer to sell, which is 
capable of being converted into a binding contract, by a tender of 
the purchase money, or performance of the conditions of the 
bond, whatever they may be, before the seller withdraws the offer 
to sell. * * Where a money consideration for the option is ex¬ 

pressed, or where the bond to convey requires the purchaser to 
improve and develop the property as a consideration for the option 
or in part performance of the condition of sale, and these terms 
have been duly complied with, a totally different case is presented. 
The latter case contains all the elements of a binding contract, 
and the purchaser, although free to reject the offer of sale, may 
elect to accept within the time.” 

Gordon vs. Darnell, Law Reporter, Vol. 1, p. 204. 

Fritz vs. Finnerty, Law Reporter, Vol. 1, p. 481. 

This being the law, a contract or option of sale, for a consider¬ 
ation expressed will.be preferable to the mining bond, where time 
is desired by the purchaser. 

The following form will answer the purpose : 


8 


82 


CONVEYANCES. 


Contract to Sell. 

This Instrument Witnesseth, that for and in consideration 

of the sum of-Dollars, in hand paid by-, the receipt 

whereof is hereby acknowledged. I, - -, of the county 

of-and State of--, do hereby covenant and agree 

to sell and convey to said - -, of the county of - 

and State of-, by a good and sufficient deed, or deeds, 

(showing a clear title free from all incumbrance.) the following 
described property, to wit:- 


upon the following terms and conditions, to wit: For the sum of 


-Dollars, if paid by the said - —— 

- on or before 

the-day of-, 188—. 


Witness my hand and seal this - day of - 

M 

oc 

CO 

1 

J 

(Signed.) 

[Seal.] 

(Add notary’s certificate.) 



Record. —This contract should be recorded, for the purpose of 
giving notice to subsequent purchasers, creditors, etc., and to 
avoid all difficulty, should be accompanied by a deed duly exe¬ 
cuted, and placed in escrow, to be delivered according to the terms 
of the contract. The deed should be enclosed in an envelope and 
placed in the keeping of some disinterested person, who will 
deliver it according to his instructions endorsed upon the envelope, 
in substantially the following form : 

Escrow Instructions. 

To-: 

You are instructed to deliver the enclosed deed to- 

or order, upon his payment to me, or depositing to my credit at 

the-Bank of-, the sum of-Dollars, on or 

before the day of , A D. 1S8—. If payment as afore¬ 
said shall not be made, you will return said deed to the under¬ 
signed. --. 

Date. 































CONVEYANCES. 


83 


A Power of Attorney —to sell, etc., may be used, but unless 
expressly made irrevocable, or if not coupled with an interest in 
the property may be revoked at any time. 

Prospecting* Contracts. —These are quite common and 
should be carefully drawn. The following form will answer for a 
guide : 

I, A. B., in consideration of the supplies, tools and general 
prospecting outfit furnished me by C. D., and for the sum of 

-dollars, to be paid as follows, viz:- 

-Have agreed and 

do hereby agree with the said C. D. to prospect diligently for 

lodes and placers in the county, (or counties) of-, in the 

State of-, and to locate and develop all discoveries, 

which, in my best judgment, shall be worth locating, in the joint 
names of myself and the said C. D. in equal undivided shares. 
All expenses of survey and record shall be paid by the said C. D. 
And the said A. B. agrees to devote his entire time and attention 
to prospecting for, locating and developing mining claims as afore¬ 
said. 

This contract shall be in force from this date until the- 

day of-, 188—, or until cancelled by the mutual consent of 

the parties hereto. (Signed,) A. B. 

I agree to terms above written. C. D. 

Dated,-. 

Record. —The contract should be recorded in the county, or 
counties, where the prospecting is to be done, for the pupose of 
giving notice of the interest of the party furnishing the grubstake 
in all claims located by the prospector. 

Will be Enforced. —A contract to prospect for mines on 
joint account will be enforced; and a decree was given, directing 
the conveyance to C. of an interest of one-half in a mine located 
by S. in his own name, upon a finding that the claim was located 
under the terms of an existing contract that the claim should 
belong to S. and C. jointly. 

Sears vs. Collins, U. S. Circuit Court for Colo., April 
term, 18S1. Law Reporter, Vol. 1, p. 489. 













8 4 


ARIZONA LAWS. 


Record of Deeds, etc.—Notice. 

Sec. 178. Deeds, bonds, and agreements in 
writing, for the conveyance or encumbering of real 
estate, or any interest therein, shall be deemed from 
the time of being filed for record, notice to subse¬ 
quent purchasers or encumbrancers, though not 
acknowdedged or proven according to law, but 
neither the same, nor the record thereof, shall be 
read as evidence, unless subsequently acknowledged 
or proved according to law, or unless their execu¬ 
tion be otherwise approved in the manner required 
by the rules of evidence applicable to such writings, 
so as to supply the defects of such acknowledgment 
or proof; this section shall apply as well to all 
such deeds, bonds and other writings heretofore 
recorded, as to those hereafter to be recorded.— 
Gen. Laws Col. 


THE MINING LAWS OF ARIZONA. 

ACTS RELATING TO MINES. 


Note.— This chapter is in place of chapter fifty of the Howell code, 
which has been repealed. 

An Act allowing persons in the Military Service of the United 
States and of this territory to hold mining claims.—Approved 
November 9, 1864. 

3109. Section i. All persons in the military 
service of the United States or this territory shall 
be allowed to locate claims on mineral lodes or 



ARIZONA LAWS. 


85 


veins in the limits of this territory, subject to the 
requirements‘of the mining laws of this territory, 
and shall be protected in the possession of the 
same, and shall have the same rights in all respects 
in regard to such claims as like persons not in the 
military service. 

3110. Sec. 2. All the laws of any mining dis¬ 
trict contrary £0 the spirit and provisions of this 
act are declared to be null and void, and shall not 
be evidence in any court having jurisdiction of 
mining suits in this territory. 

Sec. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force 
from and after its passage. 


An Act of placer mines and mining.—Approved December 30, 

1865. 

3111. Section i. It shall be lawful for any 
person, company or association who shall place 
upon the mineral lands of this territory commonly 
called placer mining grounds, a pump or pumps, 
having a capacity sufficient to raise at least one 
hundred gallons of water per minute, with an en¬ 
gine or other power attached thereto, of sufficient 
power to work the same, with the bona fide inten¬ 
tion of working the said placer grounds for the 
purpose of extracting the gold therefrom, to locate 
an amount of said placer grounds equal in extent 
to one quarter section, in such form and direction 
as he or they may elect; Pi'ovided y That said loca- 



86 


ARIZONA LAWS. 


tion shall in no case be more than one mile in 
length, nor less than one quarter of a mile in width ; 
and, Provided , That said machinery shall be used 
at least three months in each year for raising water 
to extract the gold from said grounds, and the 
presence of said machinery upon said grounds 
•shall be the only evidence of title to said grounds; 
but in no case shall this act be so construed as to 
mean placer grounds which can be worked by 
water brought in ditches or flumes from any stream or 
other deposit of water; and said locations shall not 
in any case be made upon any grounds in the posses¬ 
sion of any miner or miners at the time of location. 

3112. Sec. 2. This act shall only apply to the 
county of Yuma. 

Sec. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force 
from and after its passage. 


An Act providing for the location and registration of mines and 
mineral deposits, and for other purposes.—Approved Novem¬ 
ber 5, 1866. 

District Rules—Record. 

3113. Section 1. The mining districts hereto¬ 
fore created in the several counties of this territory 
are hereby authorized and empowered to make all 
necessary rules and regulations for the location, 
registry and working of mines therein; Provided , 
That all locations and registrations of mines and 
mineral deposits hereafter made in any of the said 



ARIZONA LAWS. 


87 


» 


districts shall be transmitted to the county recorder 
for record within sixty days after the same shall 
have been located. 


Records —F ees. 

3114. Sec. 2. The county recorders of the 
several counties are authorized and required to 
procure suitable books in which the records of all 
mines and mineral deposits shall be kept, which 
said books shall be paid for out of the county 
treasury, and they shall receive for their services 
herein the following fees: For recording and index¬ 
ing each claim not exceeding one folio, one dollar; 
and for each additional folio, twenty cents. 


Vested Rights. 

3115. Sec. 3. Nothing in this act shall be so 
construed as to affect the claims to mines and min¬ 
eral deposits heretofore located and duly recorded. 

3116. Sec. 4. The claim of the territory to all 
mining claims heretofore located is hereby aban¬ 
doned, and the same are hereby declared open to 
relocation and registry; Provided , That nothing 
herein contained shall be so construed as to affect 
mining claims herefore sold and 
territory. 

Placers. 


disposed of by the 


3117. Sec. 5. Nothing in this act shall be con¬ 
strued to apply to placer mines or mining, or other 
mineral deposits other than those commonly called 
veins or lode mines. 


88 


ARIZONA LAWS. 


Acts Repealed. 

3118. Sec. 6. Chapter fifty, of the Howell 
code, entitled, “ Of the registration and government 
of mines and mineral deposits,” as well as all other 
acts or parts of acts in conflict with the provisions 
of this act are hereby repealed. 

Sec. 7. This act shall take effect and be in force 
from and after the first day of January, A. D. 1867. 


An Act to provide for the segregation of mining claims.—Ap¬ 
proved September 30, 1S67. / 

Partition of Claims. 

3119. Section i. That whenever any one or 
more joint owners or tenants in common of gold, 
silver, copper, or mineral-bearing ledges or claims 
may desire to work or develop such ledges or 
claims, and any other owner or owners thereof 
shall fail or refuse to join in said work, after due 
notice of at least thirty days, given by publication 
in one newspaper printed in the county in which 
said ledges or claims are located, and if none be 
printed in said county, then in any newspaper 
printed in the territory, said notice to have publi¬ 
cation in four successive weeks of said paper, said 
other owner or owners may, upon application to 
the district court of the district wherein the ledge 
or claim is situated, cause the interests of said par¬ 
ties so refusing to be set off or segregated as here¬ 
inafter set forth. 



ARIZONA LAWS. 


89 


3120. Sec. 2. The owner or owners of any 
mineral-bearing ledge or claim after the expiration 
of said thirty days’ notice having been given, may, 
if the party or parties notified fail or refuse to join 
in the working or developing said ledge or claim, 
apply to the district court of the district wherein 
the ledge or claim may be situated, for a partition 
or segregation of the interest or interests of the 
party or parties so failing or refusing to join. 

3121. Sec. 3. The party or parties so applying 
shall set forth the fact that the said parties have 
been duly notified, in accordance with section one 
of this act, and that said party or parties have failed 
or refused to join in said work; all of which shall 
be sustained by the oath or affirmation of one or 
more of the parties applying; and, upon such 
application being made, the clerk of the said court 
shall post a notice at the office of the county 
recorder, and in two other conspicuous places 
within the district, stating the application, and noti¬ 
fying the parties interested, that unless they appear 
within sixty days, and show good cause why the 
prayer of the petitioner should not be granted, 
that the same will be granted if good cause can be 
shown. 

3122. Sec. 4. At the expiration of said sixty 
days, if the party or parties notified do not appear and 
show good cause why the prayer of the petitioner 
should not be granted, the court shall appoint two 
commissioners to go upon the ground and segre- 


9 o 


ARIZONA LAWS. 


gate the claims of the parties refusing to join; and 
in case they do not agree, they to choose a third 
party; and said commissioners shall make a report 
in writing to said court, who shall issue a decree in 
conformity with said report, which shall be final, 
except appeal be taken to the supreme court within 
thirty days after issuance thereof. 

3123. Sec. 5. The provisions of this act shall 
not apply to the counties of Yavapai and Pima, 
and the county of Yuma. 

3124. Sec. 6 . All acts and parts of acts in con¬ 
flict with the provisions of this act are hereby 
repealed. 

Sec. 7. This act to take effect and be in force 
from and after its passage. 


An Act Supplementary to Chapter XXXV., Howell Code, “ Of 
the Limitation of Actions.” Approved November 5, 1S66. 

Actions, When Barred. 

2111. Section i. No action for the recovery 
of property in mining claims, or for the recovery 
of possession thereof, shall be maintained unless it 
appear that the plaintiff, his ancestor, predecessor, 
or grantor was seized or possessed of the premises 
in question within two years before the commence¬ 
ment of the action. 

2112. Sec. 2. No cause of action or defence to 
an action, founded upon the title to property in 
mining claims, or to the rents or profits out of the 



ARIZONA LAWS. 


9 1 


same, shall be effectual unless it appear that the 
person prosecuting the action, or making the de¬ 
fense, or under whose title the action is prosecuted 
or the defense is made, or the ancestor, predecessor, 
or grantor of such person, was seized or possessed 
of the premises in question within two years be¬ 
fore the commencement of the act in respect to 
which such action is prosecuted or defence made 

2113. Sec. 3. All acts or parts of acts in con¬ 
flict with this act are hereby repealed. 

Sec. 4. This act shall take effect and be in force 
from and after its passage. 


An Act Conferring Jurisdiction of all Mining Claims on the Dis¬ 
trict Court. Approved December 30, 1865. 

District Courts, Jurisdiction. 

Be it enacted, etc.: 2366. Section 1. The dis¬ 
trict courts of said territory shall have exclusive 
original jurisdiction of all suits and proceedings 
relating to mines and mineral and auxiliary lands, 
and the registry, and denouncement of the same, 
and all the jurisdiction, power, and authority con¬ 
ferred upon the probate courts and probate judges 
by chapter fifty of the Howell code, entitled, “ Ol 
the Registry and Government of Mines and Mineral 
Deposits,” or otherwise, are hereby conferred upon 
the district courts and district judges respectively. 

2367. Sec. 2. That section two of title one of 
said chapter is hereby repealed, and also all the 



92 


ARIZONA LAWS. 


other provisions of said chapter, conferring juris¬ 
diction upon the probate courts and probate judges, 
over suits and proceedings relating to mines, 
mineral, and auxiliary lands, as well as other acts 
and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions 
of this act. 

2368. Sec. 3. All suits and other proceedings 
in said probate courts, now pending therein, and 
over which said probate courts have jurisdiction, 
are hereby transferred to, and shall be continued 
in, the district court of the county in which said 
suits and proceedings are now pending. 

2369. Sec. 4. The clerks of the probate courts 
shall, within thirty days after the publication of this 
act, transfer to and file in the office of the district 
courts of their respective counties, all records and 
papers in suits and proceedings relating to mines, 
mineral, and auxiliary lands, which records and 
papers shall be kept and filed by the clerks of said 
district courts, and when so transferred and filed, 
said suits and proceedings shall be proceeded with 
as though commenced in said district courts; 
Provided , That in counties where there shall be no 
clerks of the district courts, the records and papers 
shall be transferred and filed as aforesaid within 
thirty days after the appointment of said clerks 
and their acceptance thereof. 

Sec. 5. This act shall take effect and be in force 
from and after its passage. 


NEW MEXICO LAWS. 


93 


A Justice of the Peace has not Jurisdiction in Mining Cases. 

3059—Sec. 623. No action in regard to mining 
claims shall be maintained before any justice of the 
peace. 


THE MINING LAWS OF NEW MEXICO. 

General Laws of 1876 ; Chapter XXXVIII. 

An Act to Regulate the Manner of Locating Mining Claims and 

for Other Purposes. 

CONTENTS. 

* 

Section i. Location—bounds to be marked , notice of name 
of locator ; make record in three months. 

Sec. 2. Record books must be provided. 

Sec. 3. Value of labor on mining claims defined. 

Sec. 4. Locations heretofore made, there being no adverse 
claims, may be filed within six months. 

Sec. 5. Ejectment in mining claims and real estate. 

Sec. 6. Repeals former acts. 

Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the 
Territory of New Mexico: Section i. Any person 
or persons desiring to locate a mining claim upon 
a vein or lode of quartz or other rock in place 
bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper or 
other valuable deposit, must distinctly mark the 
location on the ground so that its boundaries may 
be readily traced; and post in some conspicuous 
.place on such location, a notice in writing stating 
thereon the name or names of the locator or 
locators, his or their intention to locate the mining 
claim, giving a description thereof, by reference to 

9 



94 


NEW MEXICO LAWS. 


some natural object or permanent monument as 
will indentify the claims; and also within three 
months after posting such notice, cause to be re¬ 
corded a copy thereof in the office of the recorder 
of the county in which the notice is posted; and 
provided no other record of such notice shall be 
necessary. 

Sec. 2. In order to carry out the intent of the 
preceding section, it is hereby made the duty of 
the probate judges of the several counties of this 
territory, and they are hereby required to provide 
at the expense of their respective counties, such 
book or books as may be necessary and suitable in 
which to enter the record hereinbefore provided 
for. The fees for recording such notices shall be 
ten cents for every one hundred words. 

Sec. 3. In estimating the worth of labor re¬ 
quired to be performed upon any mining claims, to 
hold the same by the laws of the United States, in 
the regulation of mines, the value of a day’s labor 
is hereby fixed at the sum of four dollars: Provided , 
however , That in the sense of this statute, eight 
hours of labor actually performed upon the mining 
claim shall constitute a day’s labor. 

Sec. 4. All locations heretofore made in good 
faith, to which there shall be no adverse claims, 
the certificate of which locations have been or may 
be filed for record and recorded in the recorder’s 
office of the county where the location is made 
within six months after the passage of this act, are 


DISTRICT RULES. 


95 


hereby confirmed and made valid. But where 
there may appear to be any such adverse claim, the 
said locations shall be held to be the property ot 
the person having the superior title or claim,, 
according to the laws in force at the time of the 
making of the said locations. 

Sec. 5. An action of ejectment will lie for the 
recovery of the possession of a mining claim, as 
well also of any real estate, where the party suing 
has been wrongfully ousted from the possession 
thereof, and the possession wrongfully detained. 

Sec. 6 . That “ an act concerning mining claims,” 
approved January 18, 1865, and an act amendatory 
thereof, approved January 3, 1866; also, an act 
entitled an act to amend certain acts concerning 
mining claims in the territory of New Mexico, 
approved January 1, 1872; be and the same are 
hereby repealed: Provided , That no locations 
completed or commenced under said acts shall be 
invalidated or in any wise affected by such repeal. 

Sec. 7. That this act shall take effect and be in 
full force from and after its passage. 

Approved January //, 1876* 


Form of District Rules and Organization. 

The following form will serve as a guide for the organization 
and proceedings of mining districts : 

Bounds and Laws of-District. 

By virtue of a notice duly signed and posted on the-day 

of- 188-, a meeting of miners was held at the place of post- 






96 


DISTRICT RULES. 


ing notice on the-day of- 188-, at which place and 

time the-Mining District was formed. Mr. - - 

acted as chairman, and-acted as secretary. 

Following are the rules passed to govern the district: 

1. The mining district shall be called the-Mining 

District. 

2. The district shall embrace the following described and 

bounded territory : commencing at the easterly end of the- 

mine and running west of north along the eastern boundary of 

the- Mining District to the western end of the-mine 

in the-Mining District, -mountains, etc., (-) 

3. The county recorder of - county, by virtue of his 

office, shall be ex officio recorder of this district. 

4. In the location of mines in this district, copies of the 
notices of location must be placed on the mines before any legal 
record of the same can be made by the recorder. Any location 
not so made shall be null and void. 

5. All location notices must be filed in the office of the 

recorder within-days after the actual date of location. 

6. The county recorder shall be entitled to a fee of-for 

each and every notice recorded by him. 

7. The records of-county are hereby adopted as the 

bona fide records of this district. 

8. The annual meeting of the voters of this district shall take 
place and be holden on the first Monday in May in each year. 

9. Ten days prior to the date of holding the annual meeting 
the recorder shall place, or cause to be placed or posted, in three 
of the most conspicuous places in said district a notice stating the 
time when, and the place where, said meeting shall be holden and 
shall designate in such notice that the meeting shall be holden for 
the purpose of transacting all and every kind of business which 
may be properly brought before it. 

10. At each annual meeting the voters of the district shall 
elect their chairman and secretary who shall hold office for one 
year or until their successors are appointed. 

11. The chairman and secretary of this meeting shall hold 

office from the-day of-for one year or until their suc¬ 

cessors are elected. 




















DISTRICT RULES. 


97 


12. The secretary of each meeting shall keep full and com¬ 
plete records of the minutes and proceedings of their respective 
meetings and cause the same to be placed on record in the office 
of the county recorder. 

13. The rules and regulations shall not be altered or in any 
way changed, except at a regular annual meeting of the miners of 
said district, and then only by a legal vote of two-thirds of all the 
voters present and voting. 

14. Any and all persons who are citizens of the United States 
of America, or who have declared their intention to become such, 
and own shares of stock or interests in any mine in the district or 
who have worked in any mines in the district for the twenty days 
preceding such meeting, shall be considered legal voters and 
entitled to vote at a miners’ meeting. 

15. Five dollars per day shall be allowed for each and every 
eight hours’ work performed upon a mine for the purpose of hold¬ 
ing title, or performing the necessary amount of work for a patent, 
and no other expenses shall be considered as expended for the pur¬ 
pose of holding or perfecting title. 

16. All mines hereafter located in this district shall be marked 
by end and corner monuments or stakes, at least eighteen inches 
in height above ground, with sufficient marks placed in or upon 
them to show which end or corner of the claim they designate ; if 
stakes are used, they must be sunk at least six inches in the ground, 
and have a blaze and figures upon one side. 

17. All locations made and recorded prior to the adoption of 
these rules and regulations, are hereby legalized, so far as they 
may not conflict with the same. 

18. These rules, regulations and by-laws shall be filed and 

recorded in the office of the County Recorder of --county, and 

shall be in full force and effect from and after this-day 

of-188-. 

19. The foregoing proceedings, and the proceedings of any 
subsequent meeting, shall be signed by the chairman and secretary 
and transmitted by them to the county recorder without delay. 

[Signed] -, Miner. 

_ ___ < t 

1 

_ ( l 


T 














9 8 


HOW TO PROSPECT. 


I certify that the foregoing is a correct statement of the pro¬ 
ceedings had, and of the laws adopted for the-- Mining 

District, this-day of - 188—. 

- Secretary. 


Chairman. 


HOW TO PROSPECT. 

(From Blake s Hand-Book of Colorado.) 

1. Examine the gravel and boulders of the 
mountain streams, and note carefully the structure 
and character of the gravel wash. This will reveal 
the geological formations that are intersected by 
the stream. Try the sands at the head of the 
gravel bars for free gold, or for any chrystalized 
minerals. If the structure of the quartz boulders 
or other vein stones are favorable, go up the stream 
until the geological zone is found that has produced 
the quartz or other metal-bearing minerals. Then 
follow the supposed metal-bearing zone on its line 
of strike, and make especially careful examinations 
wherever eruptive dykes are found intersecting the 
formation. 

2. When a lode or vein is found, note carefully 
its relation to the country rock, especially any 
differences in the opposite walls of the vein. Then 
follow it on the line of outcrop, and note carefully 
those points where the best ores are seen, so as to 
determine the position of the best ore chutes before 
making any location on the lode. 










HOW TO PROSPECT. 


99 


3. The first work should consist of shallow cuts 
across the lode at intervals of 50 to 100 feet, or if 
the vein is small and partially covered by soil and 
debris, a trench along the line of outcrop is prefer¬ 
able. If the surface tracing is satisfactory, and 
the true line of strike has been determined, then 
survey your claim and stake off the boundaries 
according to the requirements of the United States 
laws. 

4. The work of exploring the vein under ground 
is the next thing in order. To do this intelligently 
you must select that point on the line of outcrop 
where the best ore is found, then sink a shaft on 
the lode following the angle of dip, keeping both 
foot wall and hanging wall exposed if possible. If 
the lode is too wide for this to be done, then follow 
the best ore streak of the vein itself, and at every 
fifty feet in depth make crosscuts to the walls of 
the vein. 

5. After 100 feet deep has been reached, run 
levels each way from the shaft on the line of the 
vein in order to determine the extent or spread of 
the ore chute or chimney on the horizontal line. 
When the limit of the ore body on the horizon¬ 
tal line has been ascertained then sink 100 feet 
more and drift right and left as before. If more 
than one chimney of ore is found on the line of the 
vein, a shaft should be sunk on it, and drifts run 
as above stated, being careful to confire all the ex¬ 
ploring work within the walls of the vein itself. 


100 


HOW TO PROSPECT. 


6. When enough has been done to prove the 
character, size and quality of the vein, it will then 
be time to determine the position, character and 
extent of the “dead-work” necessary to work the 
mine to the deep. These questions should be 
settled by careful surveys made in the light of all 
the local facts and surroundings, such as the geolog¬ 
ical structure of the country rock, the probable 
amount of water to be raised, the lowest point of 
drainage by adit or level, and the most convenient 
point for delivery of the ores to the surface, etc. 

The last part of the preliminary exploration of 
any mine is to determine, by actual tests, what are 
the best methods of reduction, and the extent and 
kind of reduction works needed, etc. 

7. After all these preliminary facts have been 
thoroughly ascertained and clearly defined, the 
unavoidable risks of mining will have been fully 
met and overcome. All subsequent operations are 
simply matters of skill and business management 
and the capitalizing of the mine becomes a mere 
matter of business detail. 

The requirements are as follows: 

1. The preliminary exploration must have ore 
enough cut and under-run, or otherwise exposed, 
to give at least two years’ work for reduction work 
of an extent sufficient for the annual average out¬ 
put of ore. 

2. The reduction works must be suited for the 
best treatment of the ore. 


HOW TO PROSPECT. 


IOI 


3. The exploration of the mine must be pushed 
ahead of the ‘extraction of ore, so as to expose at 
least one ton of ore in new ground for every ton 
extracted from the previously explored ground. 

4. Before erecting reduction works, the ore 
exposed in the mine should be so thorougly tested 
as to guarantee a net profit sufficient to pay the 
whole cost of such work. 

5. The mine being well opened, and the reduc¬ 
tion works, or plant, established, the general success 
of the enterprise must depend upon the efficiency 
of the general business management. 





















INDEX. 


Abandonment. 

is a question of intention, page 58. 

Adit. 

discovery, Col. statute, 54. 
definition, 54. 

Adverse Claims. 

U. S. statute, 28. 

Affidavits and Proofs. 

proof of citizenship, U. S. statute, 14. 
how verified, U. S. statute, 36. 
of labor, Col. statute, 57. 

Agent. 

may apply for patent, (amendment) 28. 

Agricultural Lands. 

separation of, U. S. statute, 39. 
entry of, when cancelled, 10. 

Aliens. 

cannot locate claims, 15. 

Amendments . 

LL S. statute, 24, 28. 

Angles and Variations, 19. 

Annual Labor. 

U. S. statute, requiring, 22. 
amendment concerning, 24. 



I 10 


INDEX. 


Animal Labor —Continued. 

none required after application for pat¬ 
ent, 25. 

computation of, 25. 
neglect to perform, 25. 
tunnel work, U. S. statute, (amend¬ 
ment) 24. 

affidavit of, to be recorded, Col. statute, 57. 

Apex or Top of Vein. 

U. S. statute, 15. 
definition, 16. 

Arizona. 

mining laws of, 84-92. 
persons in military service, 84. 
placer mines and mining, 85. 
location and registration, 86. 
district rules, 86. 
vested rights, 87. 
acts repealed, 87. 
partition of claims, 88. 
actions, when barred, 90. 
district courts, jurisdiction of, 91 
district laws, 95—97. 

Bond. 

see Mining Bond. 

Boundaries. 

U. S. statute, 15. 
staking, Col. statute, 53. 

Citizenship. 

proof of, U. S. statute, 14. 
no distinction of sex, 15. 

Claim'. 

see Mining Claim. 


INDEX. 


I I I 


Coil Lands. 

entry of, 41. 

U. S. statute, 41-44. 
settlers preferred, 41. 
land office proceedings, 42. 
entry limited, 43. 
conflicting claims, 43. 
vested rights, 44. 

Consideration. 

in contracts, 81. 

Contracts. 

relating to real estate, must be in writ¬ 
ing, 81. 

of sale, form of, 82. 

Conveyances. 

fraudulent, Col. statute, 72. 

mining claims conveyed as real estate, 79. 

warranty, 79. 

mining deed, form, 79. 

not in writing, 80. 

mining bond, 81. 

escrow instructions, form, 82. 

contract to sell, 82. 

prospecting contract, form, 83. 

Co-owners. 

U. S. statute, 22. 
forfeiture by, 25. 
are not partners, 25. 
relocation by one of several, 25. 

Corporations. 

see Stock Companies. 

County Legislation , 14. 


I 12 


INDEX. 


Courts of Colorado. 

U. S. courts, 103. . 
supreme court, 104. 
district courts, 105-108. 

Crimes. 

sae Penal Laws. 

Deed. 

mining, form of, 79. 
record of, Col. statute, 83. 

Dip. 

definition, 16. 

vein may be followed beyond side lines 
on, U. S. statute, 15. 

Col. statute, 55. 
location on, 17. 

Discovery , 12. 

no location can be made until, U. S. stat¬ 
ute, 11. 

shaft, Col. statute, 55. 
stake, 53. 

open cut, tunnel, adit, Col. stat., 54. 

gives title, 54. 

within another’s claim, 18. 

District Courts ( Col .). 

terms of, etc., 105-108. 

District Rules , 10. 

form of, 95. 

statutes relating to, 22, 67, 68, 86. 

Ditches , 62. 

crossing private lands, 63. 
patents subject to, U. S. stat. 39. 

Easements. 

U. S. statute, 38. 

Col. statutes, 55, 63. 


INDEX. 


1 1 3 


End Lines. 

must be parallel, U. S. statute, 11. 
claimant cannot go beyond, IJ. S. stat. 15, 
Col. statute, 55. 

Erorrs. 

correction of, in patent, 30. , 
correction by relocation, 20, 56. 
width of claim intended to cover, 19. 

Escrow Deed , 82. 

Exception. 

of certain States from Act of 1872, U. S. 
statute, 40. 

Exemption. 

of mines and claims from taxation, Const. 
Col. 6 a. 

1 

Flumes and Ditches , 62. 

ditch notice, 63. 
record, 63. 

Forcible Dispossession. 

see Jumping Claims. 

Forfeiture. 

by co-owner, 25. 

neglect of annual labor, 25. 

Forms. 

location certificate, lode, 50. 
location notice, lode, 54. 
location notice, placer, 62. 
location notice, tunnel, 21. 
location notice, ditch, 63. 
mining deed, 79. 
contract of sale, 82. 
escrow instructions, 82. 
prospecting contract, 83. 
district rules, 95. 


INDEX. 


I 14 

Fraudulent Scales, 71. 

Undervaluation of Ore, 72. 

“ Conveyances , 72. 

“ Dividends, 75. 

Homesteads. 

on mineral lands, U. S. statute, 39. 

Homicide. 

in jumping claims, 71. 

Indian Reservation. 

locations in, 10. 

In place. 

definition, 14. 

Intersecting Veins. 

U. S. statute, 36. 

Col. statute, 69. 

Jumping Claims, 71. 

Land Districts. 

U. S. statute, 40. 
in Colorado, 40. 

Length of Claims. 

U. S. statute, 11. 

Col. statute, 49. 

Location of Claims. 

requisites of, U. S. statute, 11. 
requisites of, Col. statute, 52. 
diagrams of, 17, 18, 19, 53. 
parallel end lines, 17. 
vein must be in centre of, 19, 52. 
discovery notice, 54. 
date of, 54. 

staking boundaries, Col. statute, 53. 


INDEX. 


1 1 5 


Location of Claims —Continued. 

prior to dicovery of mineral, 50. 
by a minor, 14. 
on Sunday, 14. 

Location Certificate. 

requisites of, Col. statutes, 50, 51. 
construction of, Col. statute, 55. 
failure to record, 51. 
when void, 51, 52. 
form of, 50. 

record of, before discovery, 50. 
variance between stakes and, 54. 
one for each claim, Col. statute, 59. 

Lode. 

definition, 9. 

within placer, U. S. statute, 33. 
see Vein and Location. 

Mandatory Writ , 71 

Mill Sites. 

U. S. statute, 37. 
not adjoining lode, 37. 
joint entry of, 38. 
location of, 38. 

must adjoin side of lode claim, 37 - 

Mineral Deposits. 

what embraced, 10. 

Mineral Lands. 

reserved from sale, U. S. statute, 9. 
open to exploration and purchase, 9. 
what are, 9. 

Miner s Lien. 

when allowed, Col. statute, 70. 


INDEX. 


I 16 

Mining under Surface Improvements. 

Col. statute, 56. 

Mining Claim. 

definition of, 12. 

extent of, U. S. statute, 15. 

“ • “ Col. statute, 55. 

is real estate, Col. statute, 66. 

“ “ New Mex. statute, 94. 

conveyance of, 79, 80. 

Mining Companies. 

Col. statute, 77-78. 

two classes of stock, 77. 

stock issued in payment of property, 77 

assessable stock, how assessed, 78. 

sale of delinquent stock, 78. 

directors, 78. 

consolidating, 78. 

see Stock Companies. 

Mining Districts , 1 1. 

New Mexico. 

mining laws of, 93-95. 
location of claims, record, 93. 
value of labor fixed, 94. 
vested rights, 94. 
ejectment in mining claims, 94. 
repeal of former acts, 95. 
district rules—forms, 95. 

Open Cut , Cross-cut, etc. 

in place of discovery shaft, Col. stat., 54 

Ore Buyers. 

requirements of, Col. statute, 72. 

Partners. 


co-owners are not, 25. 


INDEX. 


II 7 


Patent. 

application for, U. S. statutes, 26-30. 
will issue to purchaser, 31. 
correction of errors in, 30. 
intersecting, 31. 


Penal Laws. 

fraudulent scales, 71. 
keeping proceeds of ore, 71. 
salting ore, 71. 
jumping claims, 71. 
homicide by mine-jumper, 71. 
removing location marks, 71. 
fraudulent undervaluation of ore, 72. 
“ conveyances, 72. 


Placers. 


definition of, 9. 

open to entry and patent, U. S. stat.. 31. 
on surveyed lands, U. S. statute, 31. 
on unsurveyed “ “ “ 32. 

title under statute of limitations, 33. 
containing lode, U. S. statute, 33, 34. 
limited to 160 acres, U. S. statute, 32, 34. 
location of, 62. 
location notice, 62. 

Col. statutes, 59-64. 
annual labor on, 60. 

Possession. 

law of, 12, 51, 53. 

U. S. statute, 10, 15. 

Col. “ 66. 


Pozver of Attorney , 83. 

Proof of Citizenship. 

U. S. statute, 14. 

Prospecting for Lodes. 

directions, 98-101. 


118 


INDEX. 


‘ Prospecting Contract. 

form of, 83. 

will be enforced, 83. 

Record. 

of lode claims, Col. statute, 50. 
of placer “ “ “ 59. 

of tunnel sites, “ “ * 59. 

of affidavit of labor, “ 57. 

of deeds, etc., Col. statute, 83. 

Relocation. 

by owner, Col. statute, 56. 

of old claims, Col. statute, 57. 

of abandoned claims, Col. statute, 58. 

Removing Location Marks. 
penalty for, 71. 

Reservations. 

locations within, io. 

Rock in Place. 

definition, 14. 

Salting Ore. 

penalty for, 71. 

Side Lines. 

when vein confined to, iS. 
diagram, 19. 
see Dip. 

Stakes. 

six required, Col. statute, 53. 
failure to keep in position, 53. 
variance between record and, 54. 

State and Railroad Grants. 

mineral lands not included, U. S. stat¬ 
ute, 40. 


INDEX. 


1 l 9 


Stock Companies. 

objects of, 73. 
certificate required, 73. 
corporate powers, 74. 
stock is personal property, 74. 
directors and officers, 74. 
by-laws, 75. 

liability of stockholders, 75. 
stockholders have access to books, 75. 
stock issued in payment of property, 75. 
reports, 75. 

fraudulent dividends, 75. 
misrepresentation by officers, 75. 
duties of secretary, 76. 
foreign corporations, 76. 
stockholders may demand statement, 76. 
doing business in otherstates, Col. stat., 77. 
sec Mining Companies. 

Supreme Court , ( Col.) 104. 

Survey. 

for patent, U. S. statute, 30. 

Surveyors. 

appointment of, U. S. statute, 35. 
when entitled to lien, 71. 

Tailings , 

Col. statute, 64. 

Taxation. 

exemption of mines from, Const. Col., 64. 
net proceeds of mines, 65. 

Timber on Mineral Lands. 

U. S. statutes, 44-47. 
free to miners, etc., 44. 
land office inspection, 45. 
penalties, 46. 
rules and regulations, 46. 


120 


INDEX. 


Title to Mining Claims. 

nature and extent of, U. S. statute, 15. 

Col. statute, 55. 


Tunnel Sites. 

U. S. statute, 20. 

construction of statute by land office, 20. 
judicial construction, 21. 
width of, 21. 

form of location notice, 21. 
record of, Col. statute, 21, 59. 
cannot be patented, 21. 
location of veins cut, 21. 

Vein, Lode , or Ledge. 

definition, 9, 12. 
course of true vein, 20. 
intersecting veins, U. S. statute, 36, Col. 
statute, 69. 

uniting veins, U. S. stat., 36, Col. stat., 69. 
see Location and Dip. 

Vested Rights. 

respected, U. S. statute, 40. 

“ Arizona statute, 87. 

“ New Mexico statute, 94. 

Warranty. 

of title to mining claims, 79. 

Water Rights. 

U. S. statute, 38. 

Col. statute, 63. 

Way. 

right of, Col. statute, 63, 64. 

Width of Claims. 

U. S. statute, 11. 

Col. statute, 49. 


Supplement. 

NOTES ON THE MINING LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES, 
WITH AMENDMENTS SINCE SEPTEMBER, I 88 I. 


Sec. 2324. In estimatiHgr the value of labor performed 
on a mining claim during any year for the purpose of holding the 
same, the following classes of testimony were admitted in a recent 
case, viz : (i) The number of days of labor performed, (2) the 
usual rate of wages per day for similar labor in the vicinity at - the 
same time, (3) the amount and character of the work, including 
kind of rock, etc., (4) the opinion of experts as to the value per 
foot of the work done, and (5) the amount actually paid for the 
work and improvements on the mine in question. Spiegelberg 
vs. Clark, M. L. 421 (S. C., N. M.) Work done outside the claim, 
if it be of a character to develop or improve the same, will be con¬ 
sidered as work done upon the claim. 

Harrington vs. Chambers, 1 P. R. 362 (Utah.) 

Where claims are 66 held in common,” the expenditure may 
be made upon any one claim (Sec. 2324), but it is held that the expen¬ 
diture must be such as will developor improve each of the claims so 
held. 

Jackson vs. Roby, 3 S, C. R. 301. (And see notes under 
§2329 post, for expenditure on placers. 

C«-owners—Forfeiture. Where more than the annual ex¬ 
penditure ($100) has been made on a claim, forfeiture cannot be 
claimed against a co-owner for his failure to conti ibute his propor¬ 
tion of such excess. But he might be liable as a partner for such 
share. And where all of several owners of a claim neglect to 

*Note. —The sections heading the following notes refer to the U. S. 
Statutes printed in the preceding pages, and the notes are given under the 
section to which they relate Additional contractions used in the supplemen » 
and not familiar, are as fo'lows: 

U. S. R.—United States Reports. 

S C. R —Supreme Court Reporter fU S ) St. Paul. 

F R—Federal Reporter (U S Circuit Courts.) 

W. C. R —West Co 1 st Reporter, San Francisco. 

P R.—Pacific Reporter, St. Paul. 

M. L.— Copp’s Mineral Lands, 




II 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


make the required annual expenditure, one of them cannot by re¬ 
locating the claim in his own name acquire the title to the exclu¬ 
sion of his co-tenants, since the Statute prescribes the course to be 
pursued in such case. 

“ A milling' partnership is held to exist where two or more 
persons unite and co-operate in the working of a mine.” 

Charles vs. Eshelman, 5 Colo. 107. 

And it is not necessary that the members should own the mine. 

Manville vs. Parks, et. al., 7 Colo. 

The Powers Of Members and managers of such companies 
to bind the others, are limited to the performance of such acts, 
in the name of the partnership, as may be necessary to the trans¬ 
action of its business, or which are usual in like concerns. Id. 

Kahn vs. Central Smelting Co , 102 U. S. 641. 

Duryea vs. Burt, 28 Cal. 569, and cases cited. 

Sec. 2325. Patents. The title to unpatented mining claims 
is only possessory and is conditional upon compliance by the loca¬ 
tor with the laws and' regulations governing it. A patent when 
issued relates back to original location and discovery, and so cures 
all defects which may have existed in the possessory title, and cuts 
off all conflicting claims. Hence it is always advisable to patent 
claims as soon as their value may justify the required expense. 

Prior Liens not Impaired. But a patent does not extin¬ 
guish or impair any lien (e. g., a mortgage or miner’s lien) which 
may have attached to the claim prior to issuance of the patent. 

U. S. Stat. Sec. 2332. 

Tlie Cost of patenting a mining claim varies according to the 
character of the land, whether lode or placer, the quantity of land 
and the interference with other claims. The government price for 
lode claims is five dollars per acre, and for placer claims two dol¬ 
lars and a half per acre. The total cost, including survey and 
attorney’s fee, averages about $200. 

Patent Limited to one Lode Claim. “No application (for 
patent) will be received or entry allowed, which embraces more 
than one lode location.” From L. O. Circular, June 8, 1S83. 
But see notes under Placers post. 


ADVERSE PROCEEDINGS. 


Ill 


Amendment (i). 

Sec. 2326. An Act to amend section twenty- 
three hundred and twenty-six of the Revised Stat¬ 
utes, relating to suits at law affecting the title to 
mining claims. 

Be it enacted , etc., That if, in any action brought 
pursuant to section twenty-three hundred and 
twenty-six of the Revised Statutes, title to the 
ground in controversy shall* not be established by 
either party, the jury shall so find, and judgment 
shall be entered according to the verdict. In such 
case costs shall not be allowed to either party, and 
the claimant shall not proceed in the land office, 
nor be entitled to a patent for the ground in con¬ 
troversy, until he shall have perfected his title.— 
March j, 1881. 

Amendment (2). 

An Act to amend section twenty-three hundred 
and twenty-six of the Revised Statutes, in regard 
to mineral lands, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted, etc., That the adverse claim requir¬ 
ed by section twenty-three hundred and twenty- 
six of the Revised Statutes may be verified by the 
oath of any duly authorized agent or attorney-in- 
fact of the adverse claimant, cognizant of the facts 
stated, and the adverse claimant, if residing or at 
the time being beyond the. limits of the district 
wherein the claim is situated, may make oath to 
the adverse claim before the clerk of any court of 


IV 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


record of the United States or of the State or Ter¬ 
ritory where the adverse claimant may then be, or 
before any notary public of such State or Terri¬ 
tory. (Sec. 2335.) 

Sec. 2. That applicants for mineral patents, if 
residing beyond the limits of the district wherein 
the claim is situated, may make any oath or affida¬ 
vit required for proof of citizenship before the clerk 
of any court of record, or before any notary public 
of any State or Territory .—April 26 , 1882. 

Sec. 2329. An Annual Expenditure of $100 is required to 
be made upon each placer claim, as well as upon lode claims. 

Carney vs. Ariz, G. M, Co., I W. C. R. 851 (Ariz.) 

A Colorado Statute (p. 61 ante) assumes to regulate the 
matter of yearly expenditure upon placer claims, probably upon 
the ground that the requirements of the U. S. law in that respect 
apply only to lode claims. But if, as is held in the case above 
cited the U. S. law concerning annual expenditure upon lode 
claims applies equally to placers, it would be unsafe to follow 
the State Statute, in so far as it permits a yearly expenditure of 
less than $100 upon any claim, however small. 

When Placer Claims are held in common, the annual 
expenditure may be made upon any one claim. Sec. 2324 ante. 
But the expenditure must be for the purpose of developing all of 
such claims and not merely for the development of one claim, 
without any reference to the development of the others. 

Jackson vs. Roby, S. C. R. 301. 

Just what is meant by “claims which are held in common” is 
not clear, i. e. whether reference is made to common owners of 
several claims, or to several claims which may be worked by a 
common system, or to both. It is held, however, that the provi¬ 
sion applies to several adjoining placer claims or locations belong, 
ing to one person. Jackson vs. Roby, supra,—although it was 
also held by the same court, that where several adjoining locations 


PLACERS. 


V 


are acquired by one person, they constitute but one claim, from 
which it would follow (contrary to the decision in Jackson vs. Roby) 
that expenditure made upon any of the original locations or claims, 
would answer for the consolidated claim. 

Smelting Co. vs. Kemp, 104 U. S. 636. 

Amount allowed in One Patent. It is further held in the 
case last cited that the law imposes no limitation upon the number 
of contiguous claims'or the quantity of ground, which may be in¬ 
cluded in one application for patent. 

But a recent circular of the General Land Office provides that 
“No application by an association of persons for patent to a placer 
claim will be allowed to embrace more than one hundred and sixty 
acres; and not less than five hundred dollars’ worth of work must 
be shown to have been expended upon or for the benefit of each 
separate location embraced in such applicttion. If an individual 
becomes the purchaser and possessor of several separate claims of 
twenty acres each or less, he may be permitted to include in his 
application for patent any number of such claims contiguous to 
each other, not exceeding in the aggregate one hundred and sixty 
acres ; but upon or for the benefit of each original claim or location 
so embraced, he or his grantors must have expended the sum of 
five hundred dollars in improvements.” 

SfcC. 2333. <f Known ?? vein defined. The vein or lode re¬ 
ferred to in this section as exempt from a grant or patent of 
premises in which such vein or lode may be embraced, means a 
vein or lode that has been located and developed and has definite 
boundaries. 

Iron Silver M. Go. vs. Sullivan et. al. U. S. C. Ct. Colo. 

16 F. R. 829. 

McLaughlin vs, U. S., 107 U. S. R. 527. 

When separate local ions have been made by different lo¬ 
cators of a placer and a lode contained therein, if application for 
patent is made by the placer claimant, the lode claimant may ad¬ 
verse, and should he fail to do so his claim will be limited in width 
to 25 feet on either side of the vein so located. 

X. L. O. IS. 


VI 


UNITED STATES LAWS. 


Sec. 2336. Intersecting: Veins. The first part of this sec¬ 
tion has been construed as referring to the intersection of the 
veins, and not of the locations which may cross each other, and 
therefore as being partly in conflict with Sec. 2322 ante, which 
gives to the locator all veins which lie within the claim located. 
And this being a later section of the same act, is held to control the 
earlier section and to carve out from it an exception as to the cross 
leads, which may be located and held by a subsequent locator, 
saving only to the prior locator the immediate place of intersection 
of the veins. 

Hall et. al. vs. Equator M. and S. Co., et. al. U. S. C. 

Ct. Colo. 

The only other case in which the meaning of this statute has 
been considered by an appellate court seems to be that of Pardee 
vs. Murray et. al. 2 P. R. 16 (Mont.) which decides the question 
in the language of the statute and hence leaves us no wiser. 

By regarding the word “vein,” as used in this section, as synon- 
omous with “location,” which the wording seems to warrant, the 
other construction couid be admitted, and the two sections recon¬ 
ciled. This view is adopted in the Land Office in issuing patents 
for intersecting locations. The surface ground in the interference 
being excepted from the second patent. 

Sec. 2337. Mill Sites. Land Office Regulations. 74- in 

case the owner of a quartz-mill or reduction-works is not the 
owner or claimant of a vein or lode, the law permits him to make 
application therefor in the same manner prescribed herein for 
mining-claims ; and after due notice and proceedings, in the ab¬ 
sence of a valid adverse filing, to enter and receive a patent for 
his mill site at said price per acre. 

75. In every case there must be a satisfactory proof thac the 
land claimed as a mill-site is not mineral in character, which proof 
may, where the matter is unquestioned, consist of the sworn state¬ 
ment of the claimant, supported by that of one or more disinter¬ 
ested persons capable from acquaintance with the land to testify 
understandingly. 

76. The law expressly limits mill-site locations made from 
and after its passage to five acres. 


WATER RIGHTS—TIMBER. 


VII 


Sec. 2339. Water Rights. Important differences usually 
exist between water rights upon lands on which the running waters 
ure useful for mining or irrigating purposes, and water rights 
upon lands, the streams of which are not required for such pur¬ 
poses. In the latter case the waters are incidental and appurte¬ 
nant to the soil and would pass with a conveyance of the land. 
But in the former case the waters may become a separate and 
independent estate and in such case must be conveyed independ¬ 
ently of the land. 

43 Cal. 453. 

Coffin et. al. vs. Ditch Co., 6 Colo. 443. 

Barnes vs. Sabron, 10 Nev. 217. 

Atchison vs. Peterson, 20 Wall, 507. 

These rights are acquired originally by appropriation and may 
be lost by abandonment or disuse. Id. The manner of appro¬ 
priation is regulated by local laws or customs, (see page 62.) The 
measure of such a water right is, in the first instance, the quantity 
which is actually diverted by means of ditches or otherwise for a 
beneficial use, and this quantity is usually measured and conveyed 
by the inch. (See “miner’s inch,” glossary.) The amount of 
water originally taken cannot be afterwards increased to the det¬ 
riment of a subsequent appropriator of water in the same stream. 

Atchison vs. Peterson, 20 Wall. 507. 

Sieber vs. Frank, 2 W. C. R. 99. 

Timber Oil Milling* Claims. According to rulings of the 
Interior Department, the timber on a valid mining claim belongs 
to the locator, and must be protected by him against depredations, 
as in other cases of trespass upon private lands. 

. 9 L. O. 164. 

But see contra U. S. vs. Nelson, 5 Sawyer 68. 


MINING LAWS OF COLORADO. 


(Enacted since September 1881.) 

i 

Miner’s Lien. 

Abridged from the Act approved March 2, 1883. In force May- 
Si, 1S83 Gen. Stat. p. 662. 

Liens Upon Mines. All persons who shall do 
work or furnish materials to any amount, by con¬ 
tract express or implied, with the owner, for the 
working or development of any mine, lode, mining 
claim, or deposit yielding minerals of any kind, 
shall have a lien upon such mine, lode, mining 
claim, or deposit, for the amount and value of the 
work so done, or materials so furnished, to the ex¬ 
tent of the interest or claim of such owner thereof, 
at the time of the commencement to do such work 
or to furnish such materials, or at any time before 
the establishment of said lien by process of law. 

Filing of Notice. The lien claimant shall file 
in the office of the clerk and recorder of the county 
wherein the mine or claim is situated, a statement 
containing,— 

1st. A notice of intention to hold and claim a 
lien. 

2d. A description of the property to be charged 
therewith. 

3d. A verified statement of the indebtedness. 


COLORADO LAWS. 


IX 


I ime of Filing. Principal contractors shall file 
said statement within sixty days, and sub-contrac¬ 
tors within forty days after the time when the last 
work shall have been done, or the last materials 
furnished by such contractors. 

May be Claimed by Sub contractor before 
commencing work. Sub contractors may either, 
before, or at any time after commencing work, file 
a notice of their intention to hold and claim a lien, 
together with a description of the property to be 
charged and the probable value of the work to be 
done, or materials to be furnished, and shall there¬ 
upon have a lien, not exceeding the sum stated as 
the probable value of such work or materials. 

Lien dates from commencement of work. All 
such liens shall relate back to the time of the com¬ 
mencement of the work or furnishing of materials, 
and shall have priority over any and every lien or 
incumbrance subsequently intervening, and over 
prior liens, not recorded, or of which the lienor 
under this act had no notice. 

Enforcement of Liens by Action—Limitation. 
Within six months after the filing of the lien, action 
must be brought to enforce the same ; otherwise 
the lien will be lost. 

Assignment of Liens. Liens may be assigned, 
either before or after the filing thereof, and the as¬ 
signee may include the several liens in one state¬ 
ment and bring action thereon. The purpose so to 
do is a sufficient consideration for such assignment. 


x miner’s lien. 

Consolidation of Liens and Actions—Pro¬ 
cedure. Lien claimants, when not contesting the 
claims of each other, may join as plaintiffs, in the 

same action, or separate actions may be consoli¬ 
dated upon motion of ally party, or by the court 

upon its own motion, and lien claimants may also, 
by order of court, by motion and upon cause 
shown, be allowed to intervene and become parties 
to any such action. 

The various rights of all the lien claimants, and 
other parties in any such action, shall be determin¬ 
ed and incorporated in one judgment or decree. 
Each party who shall establish his claim under this 
act shall have a judgment against the party person¬ 
ally liable to him for the full amount of his claim 
so established in said decree, upon the property to 
which his lien shall have attached to the extent 
heretofore stated. The property shall be sold by 
order of court as in case of the foreclosure of mort¬ 
gages, within the time and in the manner provided 
for sales on executions, and with the same right of 
redemption, as in cases of sales on execution. The 
proceeds of sale shall be applied to the satisfaction 
of such lien or liens, according to the rights of the 
several parties, and to the costs of suit, and the 
balance of proceeds, if any, shall be paid to the 
owner of the property. 

If the proceeds fail to satisfy the lien or liens, 
the claimant may have execution against the owner 
for the balance due him. 


COLORADO LAWS. 


x: 


Rank of Liens. Where several liens are claim 
ed, as aforesaid, against the same property, the> 
shall rank as follows, viz: 

ist. Sub-contractors in the second degree, 

2d. Sub-contractors in the first degree, 

3d. Ori ginal contractors, 
which shall be declared in the decree or judgment 
in the order named ; and the proceeds of sale musi 
be applied to each lien, or class of liens in the 
order of its rank. 

An Original or a Principal Contractor is one 
who does work or furnishes material under a con 
tract directly with the owner. 

A Sub-contractor in the first degree is one 
who does work or furnishes materials by contraci 
with a principal contractor. 

A Sub-contractor in the second degree is one 
who does work or furnishes materials by contract 
with a sub-contractor of the first degree. 

Surveyors and Engineers have a like lien anc 
claim as other persons under this act, for the sur 
veying and platting of mines, mining claims, lode< 
or mineral deposits. 

Lien attaches to Water Rights and to thi 
franchises of Corporations. Said lien shall like¬ 
wise attach to rights of water and rights of wa) 
pertaining to mines, mining claims, etc., and also tc 
the franchises and charter privileges that may ir 
any manner pertain to said specified property. 


MINING LAWS OF ARIZONA. 

(Enacted since September i88r.) 

An Act to repeal an act providing for the taxation of the net pro¬ 
ceeds of mines, approved February 9, 1877. 

Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of 
Arizona :— 

Section I. An Act entitled “An Act providing for the taxa¬ 
tion of the net proceeds of mines,” approved Feb. 9, 1877, is 
hereby repealed. 

Sec. 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and 
after its passage. 

Approved Feb. 21, 1S81. 


An Act relating to mines and mining claims. (Right of way.) 

Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of 
Arizona :— 

Section i. Any person or persons who has or may hereafter 
locate a valid mining claim in this Territory under the laws of the 
United States or of the Territory of Arizona, shall be lawfully en¬ 
titled to the right of way over all adjoining or adjacent mines or 
mining claims, for the purpose of transporting supplies, material 
or ores used upon or taken from the claim or claims so entitled to 
the right of way; and it shall be lawful, in the exercise of this 
right of way, to construct such a road, tramway, or railway as may 
be necessary to transport such supplies, materials or ores: Provid¬ 
ed, That no such right of way shall be exercised in such a manner 
as to inconvenience or embarrass the owner or owners of said ad¬ 
joining or adjacent claim or claims ; and, Provided also, that the 
owner or owners of said adjoining or adjacent claim or claims shall 
be entitled to remuneration from the person or persons claiming 
such right of way; the amount of such remuneration and the man¬ 
ner of ascertaining the same to be regulated by the rules and regu¬ 
lations as prescribed by an act of the Territorial Legislature, 



ARIZONA LAWS. 


XIII 


entitled An Act providing for the construction of toll roads,bridges 
and ferries.in Arizona Territory. Approved Feb. 18, 1871. 

Sec. 2 . All acts and parts of acts in conflict with the provi¬ 
sions of this act are hereby repealed. 

Sec. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and 
after its passage. 

Approved March 12, 1881. 


An Act to encourage mining. 

Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of 
A rizona :— 

Section i. That no lands taken up or held as mining claims 
under the laws of the United States, shall be held or used for 
agricultural purposes, or irrigated from any stream of water, unless 
there should be more water in such stream than is required or used 
for mining purposes; and the use of water for the purpose of irri¬ 
gating such lands for agricultural purposes shall not vest in the 
person so using the same any right to such water, as against any 
subsequent appropriation for mining purposes. 

Sec. 2. ‘This act shall take effect and be in force from and 
after its passage. 

Approved March 12, 18S1. 


MINING LAWS OF NEW MEXICO. 

(Enacted since September 1881.) 

An Act in relation to Lode Claims. 

Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of New 
Mexico :— 

Section i. Hereafter in actions respecting mining claims, 
proof must be admitted of the customs, usages or regulations 
established and in force in the mining district embracing such 
claims, and such customs, usages or regulations, when not in con¬ 
flict with the laws of this Territory or the United States, must 
govern the decision of the action. 




XIV 


NEW MEXICO LAWS. 


Sec. 2. Any person or persons claiming or staking upon the 
surface ground or mining claim of another who has complied with 
all laws, regulations and customs, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, 
and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not less than 
ten or more than one hundred dollars, or imprisonment in the 
county jail for not less than ten or more than ninety days, or both, 
at the discretion of the court. 

Sec. 3. Any person or persons who now have their stakes, 
monuments or notices upon the surface ground of any mining 
claim belonging to others, shall within sixty days from the passage 
of this act, remove such stakes, monuments or notices from the 
surface ground of such mining claim, and upon failure to do so 
shall be subject to the penalty set forth in section two of this act. 

Sec. 4. Within sixty days after the period fixed by the United 
Stales law for doing the annual assessment upon mining claims, 
all persons owing or representing any mining claim or claims shall 
file with the county and district recorder an affidavit stating that 
the full amount has been expended as required by law. Such 
affidavit shall be signed by at least two parties disinterested in such 
claim or claims. Failure to file such affidavit as herein required 
shall be considered prima-facie evidence of abandonment of such 
claim or claims ; and Provided , That the fee of each recorder 
shall not exceed fifty cents for each certified record. 

All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this act are hereby 
repealed. 

This act shall be in full force and effect from and after the first 
day of April, A. D. 1S82. 

Approved March 1, 1882. 


HINTS ON MINERAL TESTING. 

BY WALTER LEE BROWN. 

Prospectors, miners and others are often unable to ascertain 
whether the various minerals and rocks they run across have pos¬ 
sible values as ores of gold, silver, copper and lead. 

If the specimen is very heavy, and on Cutting shows a surface 
having a grayish metallic appearance, it may be galena (or sulphu- 



HINTS ON MINERAL TESTING. 


XV 


ret of lead). If it is heavy, with no metallic shine, and of a yellowish 
color, it may be carbonate of lead. In either case, put a few drops 
of nitric acid on the rock ; then, after a minute, as much water, 
and finally place a small piece of iodide of potash on the wet spot* 
If the rock turns a bright yellow, lead is present. 

Specimens having a strong blue or green color, or with a gray 
metallic lustre, and hard to cut, should be tested for copper. Treat 
with nitric acid , as before; then add quite a little ammonia water; 
if the sample turns a very deep blue, copper, in some form, is in 
the ore. 

For silver, grind a small fragment to a fine powder ; put one- 
half in a small bottle with a little strong ammonia water ; shake, 
cork, and let stand for some hours ; pour off the solution, and add 
an equal quantity of nitric acid. If the liquid becomes milky, or 
a curdy mass forms in it, there is chloride of silver in the ore. 
The other half is to be heated in a test-tube with nitric acid, the 
solution poured off, and a grain or two of common table salt added. 
If a curdy mass forms, which does not dissolve in boiling water 
(but does dissolve in ammonia) and turns dark on exposure to 
light, silver is present. 

Gold can be proven with certainty only by “ panning” or assay¬ 
ing. To assay for silver and gold, in brief: Grind ore, in a mor¬ 
tar, very fine; weigh 45 grains of it; next weigh 450 grains of 
granulated lead, divide in halves ; put one-half in a scorifier, and 
mix with it the ore ; place the ether half on top, and add a piece 
of borax glass as large as a pea; heat in a furnace, in a muffle, till 
everything in the scorifier is melted, and no vapors of lead arise 
from it; take out, cool, break scorifier, hammer slag from button, 
which place in a cupel in the muffle, and heat till the lead has been 
driven off; weigh bead left on cupel, equals gold and silver; put 
in a test-tube and heat with nitric acid to dissolve silver; pour oft 
acid and wash with hot water; take out gold, dry, and weigh; first 
weight, less second, equals silver; each result, multiplied by ten, 
equals number of ounces (very nearly) per ton of the precious 
metal contained in the ore. 

For further information, see the various works on mineralogy, 
blow-pipe analysis, and assaying. 


GLOSSARY. 


Adit —A level, a horizontal drift or passage from the surface into 
a mine. 

Amalgam —The mechanical combination of quicksilver with gold 
or silver. 

Apex —the top or highest point of mineral. 

Argentiferous —Containing Silver. 

Assay —To test ores by chemical or blow pipe examination. 

Aurifeions —Containing gold. 

Bed —A horizontal seam or deposit of mineral. 

Blende —An ore of zinc, consisting of zinc and sulphur. 

Bonanza —Fair weather ; a mine is said to be en bonanza when it 
is yielding a profit. 

Breast —The face of a tunnel or drift. 

Cap —A vein is in the “cap” when it is much contracted. 

Carbonates —Soft carbonates ; salts containing carbonic acid, with 
a base of lead. Hard carbonates ; the same with iron for a 
base. 

Cheek —The side or wall of a vein. 

Chimneys —The richer spots in lodes as distinguished from poorer 
ones. 

Cinnabar —Sulphuret of mercury. 

Claijn —The space of ground located and worked under the laws. 

Chlorides —A compound of chlorine and silver. 

Color —A particle of gold in the pan. 

Contact —A touching meeting or junction of two substances, as 
rocks. 

Contact vein —A vein along the contact plane of, or between two 
dissimilar rock masses. 

Country rock —The rock masses on each side of a vein. 

Course of vein —Along its length (see Strike.) 

Crevice —A narrow opening, resulting from a split or crack ; a 
fissure. 



GLOSSARY. 


XVII 


Cribbing —The timber or plank lining of a shaft ; the confining 
of the wall rock. 

Cropping out —The rising of layers of rock to the surface. 

Cross cut —A level driven across the course of a vein. 

Cut —To intersect a vein ; open cut, a level without a covering 
driven across the course of a vein. 

Dead Work —The development of a mine preparatory to stoping. 

Diggings —Name applied to placers being worked. 

Dip —The slope, pitch or angle which a vein makes with the plane 
of the horizon. 

Drift —A horizontal passage underground. 

Dump —A place for deposit of tailings, or waste rock. 

Dike —A wall-like mass of non-mineral matter filling fissures. 

Face —The end of a drift or tunnel. 

Fatilt —A displacement of strata or veins so that they are not con¬ 
tinuous. 

Feeder —A small vein joining a larger one. 

Fissure vein —A fissure or crack in the earth’s crust filled with 
mineral matter. 

Float —Loose rock or masses of ore. 

Foot wall —The layer of rock immediately under the vein. 

Forfeiture —A failure to comply with, the laws, prescribing the 
quantity of work. 

Galena —Lead ore ; sulphur and lead. 

Gangue —The mass of substance filling the vein and carrying the 
ore. 

Gash vein —A vein wide above and narrow below. 

Grub slake —Outfitting a prospector on a bargain to share his dis¬ 
coveries. 

Flanging wall —The layer of rock or wall over a lode. 

Heading —The vein above the drift. 

Headings —In placer mining, the mass or gravel above the head of 
sluice. 

PIorse- -A mass of rock matter occurring in or between the branches 
of a vein. 

Hydraulicing —Washing down a placer claim by the use of hose or 
4 ‘ giant nozzle.” 


XVIII 


GLOSSARY. 


Impregnation —Metallic deposits having undefined limits and form. 

In place— A vein or lode inclosed on both sides by fixed and im¬ 
movable rock. 

Jump —To take forcible possession of a claim ; to re-locate aban¬ 
doned property, 

Lagging —The timber over and upon the sides of a drift. 

Lead —See lode. 

Length —A certain portion of the vein when taken on a horizontal 
line. 

Level —xA horizontal passage or drift into a mine from a shaft. 

Lode —Aggregations of mineral matter containing ores in fissures. 

Matrix —The rock, or earthy matter containing a mineral or 
metallic ore. 

Metallurgy —The science of the reduction of ores. 

Mill-run —The return from a quantity of ore after reduction. 

Miner s inch —A local unit for the measurement of water supplied 
to hydraulic miners. It is the amount of water flowing under 
a certain head through one square inch of the total section of 
a certain opening, for a certain number of hours daily. All 
these conditions vary at different localities, and are usually reg¬ 
ulated by Statute. For Colorado, see Gen. Stat. 1883, §3472. 

Ores —Compounds of metals with oxygen, sulphur, arsenic, etc. 

Outcrop —That portion of a vein appearing at the surface. 

Placer —A gravelly place where gold is found; includes all forms 
of mineral deposits excepting veins in place. Sec. 2329, Rev. 
Stat. United States. 

Pocket —A rich spot in a vein or deposit. 

Prospecting —Searching for new T deposits, also preliminary explora¬ 
tions to test the value of lodes or placers. 

Pyrites —Sulphide of iron or copper. 

Quicksilver —Mercury, used in sluices to catch gold. 

Riffle blocks —Wooden or iron blocks set on end in a sluice, with 
spaces between for catching gold. 

Selvage —Thin band of earth matter between the vein and walls. 

Shaft — A well-like excavation in the earth. 

Shift —The time for a miner’s work, in one day or night. 

Silver glance —An ore which when pure contains 87 per cent, silver 
and 13 per cent, sulphur. 


GLOSSARY. 


XIX 


Sluices. —Boxes joined together set with riffle blocks, through which 
is washed auriferous earth. 

Smelting —Reducing the ore in furnaces to metals, by melting. 

Stamps —Machines for crushing ore. 

Stope —One of a series of steps, into which the upper surface of an 
excavation is cut; to excavate in the form of steps above a drift. 

Sloping —The act of stoping or breaking down the surface of an ex¬ 
cavation with a pick. 

Strata —A series of beds of rock. 

Strike —The extension of a lode in a liorizontal direction. 

Stulls —A frame work covered with timber or planks, to support 
rubbish in working a stope. 

Sump —That part of the shaft below the platform used for receiving 
water. 

Tailings —The refuse matter discharged from the end of a sluice. 

Tunnel —A level driven at right angles to the vein, which its object 
is to reach. 

Vein —The whole mass of mineral matter in fissures of rocks. 

Walls —The sides next to a lode 

Whim —A machine for raising ores and refuse. 

Winze —A shaft sunk from one level to another. 


INDEX TO SUPPLEMENT. 


PAGE. 

Adverse Proceedings— 

U. S. Stat. (amendments). Ill 

Amendments— 

to U. S. Stat.Ill, IV 

Annual Expenditure— 

how estimated. I 

on claims held in common.I, IV 

by co-owners. I 

on placer claims. IV 

% 

Arizona— 

laws of. XII 

Citizenship— 

proof of, U. S. Stat. (amendment). IV 

Co-Owners— 

expenditure by. I 

forfeiture by one of several.* . . . . I 

Glossary. XVI 

Intersecting Veins. VI 

Lode— 

within placer. V 

Mill Sites— 

location of. VI 

patent for. VI 

Mineral Testing— 

hints on. XIV 

Miner’s Lien— 

Stat. of Colorado. VIII 

Mining Partnership— 

what constitutes .. II 

powers of members of. II 

New Mexico— 

laws of. XIII 

Patents— ■ 

effect of. II 

application for, U. S. Stat. amendment. IV 

prior leins not impaired by. II 

limited to one lode claim. II 

may include several placer claims. V 

cost of. 1 . . . II 

Timber on Mining Claims. VII 

Water Rights. VII 































































v" i ? 


a 


f 


A 




X 


f 




























